First Bank welcomes TNF talks

First Banking Corporation has welcomed the current tripartite negotiations between the government, employers and labour saying it hopes they will result in robust initiatives which will rectify the country’s macro-economic imbalances.

In its report for the year ending December, the bank which made a net profit of $1.5 billion, nearly a four-fold increase from $418 million the previous year, was optimistic that despite the increasing competition in the financial services sector, it will continue to create value for its customers.

It says it is restructuring during the first half of this year to achieve more diversified revenue streams and to increase focus of its management teams on revenue generation.

Net interest income during the year increased to $2.2 billion from $628 million the previous year.

Dealing, trading and exchange income increased marginally from $78 million to $86 million but fees and commission income shot up from $629 million to $2.3 billion, while other income almost doubled from $64 million to $116 million.

The bank says it now has 67 000 account holders and its retail banking contributed $1.2 billion.

Corporate banking brought in $790 million while treasury contributed $2.6 billion.

Investment banking brought in $52 million but this was above budget.

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