SBM Bank Kenya has posted a Sh12.39 million net profit in the first quarter of trading ended March 2025, marking the first time in a year for the lender to return a profit.
The latest profit is an improvement from the preceding similar period when it returned a net loss of Sh370.5 million.
The lender, a subsidiary of Mauritius’ SBM Holdings, is posting the first profit since returning a net profit of Sh129.6 million in the financial year ending December 2023.
SBM spent the whole of last year in red, closing with a net loss of Sh1.07 billion, in the period its parent company injected fresh capital worth Sh471 million.
The latest performance was boosted by increased interest and non-interest income and a drop in operating expenses.
While net interest income grew to Sh891.75 million from Sh619.25 million, non-interest income rose to Sh433.95 million from Sh387.76 million. The review period saw operating expenses reduce to Sh1.31 billion from Sh1.38 billion.
SBM Chief Executive Officer Bhartesh Shah said the improved performance was boosted by a strategic focus on the mass affluent segment and local businesses.
"This performance is a testament to what can be achieved with clarity of purpose and relentless execution. Our turnaround signals a new era for SBM Bank — an era of bold ambition, customer-centric innovation, and operational excellence. We are building a future-ready bank that is faster, sharper, and deeply trusted by our customers,” said Mr Shah.
The lender becomes the first to make public its financial results for the first quarter of the year, with others expected to do so before the end of May.
SBM Holdings entered Kenya in May 2017 through the acquisition of Fidelity Commercial Bank for a $1 (Sh129) consideration and renamed it SBM Bank Kenya, before making a $20 million (Sh2.59 billion) capital injection.
The Mauritius-headquartered lender in August 2018 also acquired certain assets and liabilities of the then-under-receivership Chase Bank Kenya for 162,158 Mauritian rupees (Sh465,000) and added them to SBM Bank Kenya. The group made a commitment to inject $60 million (Sh7.77 billion).
The lender is carrying in its books an accumulated loss of Sh2.24 billion. Last year’s loss was mainly driven by a decrease in net interest income to Sh2.15 billion from Sh3.81 billion due to the rise in interest expenses rising by 48 percent to outpace an 11 percent rise in interest income.
