Société Tunisienne de Banque (STB Bank) has just published its activity indicators for the third quarter of the current year, during which the bank continued its efforts to mobilize deposits, enabling it to achieve a better match between resources and uses.
Deposits increased by TND 950 million to TND 11,127 million
At the end of the first nine months of the current year, STB Bank recorded a strong increase in outstanding customer deposits from 950 million dinars (+9.3%) in December 31, 2023, to 11,127 million dinars.
The structure of deposits remained virtually unchanged, with savings deposits accounting for 41%, demand deposits 37% and time deposits only 19%.
On the other hand, loans outstanding fell by 5.3% in the first nine months of 2024, as a result of the Bank’s deliberate decision to control its risk in an environment characterized by a slowdown in the rate of growth of credit distribution in the sector.
Lower NBI: the explanation
In terms of the NBI, there was a reversal of the trend, with an increase of 3.7 million dinars in the third quarter, explained by a decrease in banking operating expenses (-10.4 million dinars) greater than that of banking operating income (-6.7 million dinars).
This situation is the result, on the one hand, of the decrease in recourse to refinancing on the money market and, on the other hand, of rise of the portfolio of government securities. However, net banking income for the first nine months fell by 4% to 490 million dinars.
As a direct consequence of the development of the business indicators, the LCR and LTD ratios reached very comfortable levels, well above the regulatory thresholds of 397% for the LCR (which must be at least 100%) and 99.64% for the LTD (which must be at most 120%).
Treasury’s good supply of BTAs and domestic bonds in September
In addition, with a view to improving the performance and profitability of its portfolio, the STB managed to increase its income from the securities portfolio and financial operations by 16.9% to 220 million dinars, mainly from investments in treasury bills and national bonds.
In addition, the overall net interest margin decreased by 23.6% to 177.1 million dinars, mainly as a result of the decrease in average loans outstanding and the increase in average deposits outstanding.
Net commissions increased slightly to 92.9 million dinars, despite the decline in financing activities and BCT’s decision to provide certain services free of charge.
Operating expenses were virtually unchanged at 243 million dinars, with the cost/income ratio increasing by 2.1 percentage points to 49.7%.
