The ManicaPost
THE rising cost of skilled staff has hurt the Zimbabwean units of Standard Bank and Standard Chartered, which on Thursday posted profits of $6,6m and $8m, respectively.
Standard Bank’s Stanbic Bank and Standard Chartered Zimbabwe are two of four foreign-owned banks that are at the centre of a dispute with the Zimbabwean government. This is over demands for them to cede majority shareholdings to black groups under a contentious empowerment policy promulgated in 2007.
But the four foreign banks, which also include Barclays Bank Zimbabwe and Nedbank’s MBCA Bank, are said to have provisionally agreed to roll out employee share ownership schemes as part of compliance with the law.
Stanbic Bank chairman Sternford Moyo said total revenue for the six months ended June surged to $35m. Interim profit came in at $6.6m, 100 percent stronger on the prior corresponding period.
“The bank’s financial performance continued to improve, with fee and commission income earned from transactions contributing 40 percent of the bank’s total income,” Mr Moyo said.
Stanbic Bank’s operating expenses for the period surged 21 percent, boosted mainly by staff costs. Standard Chartered Zimbabwe also saw staff-related costs spiral during the same period, while operating expenses went up 13 percent to $18m.
Samuel Rushwaya, the bank’s acting chairman, said “staff costs continue to be the largest contributor to operating expenses”. But the cost-to-income ratio was in line with the prior comparative period’s level of 59 percent.
Total banking sector deposits in the country rose to $3,9 billion by the end of June.
Zimbabwean companies, particularly those in the financial and accounting services sectors, are battling hard to retain a skilled labour force. Most professionals are seeking greener pastures outside the country to offset the effects of a tough economy. – Business Day.
