Financial services Standard Bank has announced a drop in its full year profits as Covid-19 negatively impacted the bank’s retail, business and clients.
The bank also increased bad-debt provisions by nearly three times to lessen the effects Covid-19 had on to its business.
In a statement, the company reported that its headline earning per share dropped by 43% to 1 002.6c in the year to end-December. Credit impairments or bad-debt provisions rose 2.6 times to R20.594 billion.
Standard Bank chief executive Sim Tshabalala said the bank provided support to their clients, employees and communities.
“Cumulative client relief of R129bn was provided to individuals and businesses and R25bn to corporate clients. In addition, the group expanded and enhanced various digital service solutions to enable our clients to continue to transact and our employees to continue to operate productively during enforced lockdowns,” he said.
According to the bank, its credit impairment charges increased to R15.9bn (FY19: R6.4bn), 2.5 times FY19 levels.
The bank also declared a final dividend of 240c per share, which was 76% down on 2019.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE