Standard Chartered pretax profit falls as provisions rise

19:47 - 25 November 2015

A fuel attendant handles Kenyan shilling notes at a petrol station in the capital Nairobi March 15, 2011. REUTERS/Noor Khamis

The bank said group pretax profit fell to 8.96 billion shillings ($87.8 million) for the nine-months ended Sept. 30 from 11.22 billion shillings a year earlier.

Standard Chartered Bank of Kenya, a unit of Standard Chartered Plc, said on Wednesday its nine-month pretax profit fell 20 percent as it set aside more money for bad loans and operating costs jumped.

Loan-loss provisions rose nearly 50 percent to 1.69 billion shillings, while operating expenses increased about 15 percent to 9.84 billion shillings.

The bank said its exposure to net non-performing loans stood at 545.8 million shillings at the end of September, lower than the 898.9 million shillings a year earlier.

Group net interest income also rose slightly to 13.47 billion shillings from 13.31 billion shillings.