Among DTB Group’s regional units, Uganda surpasses Tanzania as its most profitable

Diamond Trust Bank’s (DTB) Uganda subsidiary surpassed Tanzania as the bank’s most profitable regional unit in 2021, owing to higher revenues and the business’s ability to stabilize non-performing loans.

The Uganda unit’s total profit more than doubled to Sh1.01 billion in the fiscal year ending December 2021, up from Sh437 million in 2020.

This pushed it ahead of DTB Tanzania in terms of contribution to group profits, with the Tanzania unit’s gross profit increasing by a quarter to Sh834 million in 2020, up from Sh664 million in 2020.

The Kenyan branch continues to produce the majority of the lender’s profits, with a gross profit of Sh4.39 billion, accounting for 66.3 percent of the group’s total.

“We observed tremendous progress in Uganda, which accounts for 15% of the group’s profitability.” This is due to considerably better profitability, as well as the stabilization of non-performing loans,” said DTB financial director Alkarim Jiwa in a briefing last week.

DTB Uganda topped the company in relative growth in practically all balance-sheet categories, resulting in higher profits growth compared to the other divisions.

DTB Uganda increased client deposits by 26.3 percent to Sh48 billion, while DTB Tanzania increased deposits by 12 percent to Sh56 billion and DTB Kenya increased deposits by 8.7 percent to Sh226 billion. DTB’s Burundi subsidiary remained unchanged at Sh2 billion.

Burundi had the highest percentage increase on the loan book, at 33 percent, although from a low base of Sh1.5 billion to Sh2 billion, while DTB Uganda’s loans increased by 28 percent to Sh23 billion.

Kenya and Tanzania’s loan books increased by 3% and 8.3%, respectively, to Sh171 billion and Sh39 billion.

The tier one lender said that it expects stronger contributions from its subsidiaries in the future and has also set a strategy to expand its market penetration in the different regions.

It plans to invest Sh3.5 billion in digital platforms by the end of next year in order to increase its market share, and it also plans to open an additional 40 branches in the area by 2024, bringing its total in the region to about 200.