Banks’ bad debt portfolio drops by 26.1% to N263bn

AS 12 banks record marginal growth of 0.02 percent to N920.4 billion from N920.2 billion in H1’17, stakeholders and operators in the capital market have frowned at the low interest income recorded by leading banks in the first half of 2018 (HI’18). But the banks have, however, reduced their bad debts (impairment losses) by 26.1 percent to N263 billion in H1’18 from N356 billion in H1’17, a development investors applauded saying that it will improve profitability of the banks in the third quarter, Q3’18, which in turn would lead to increase in the returns to shareholders at the end of the year. Analysts also were of the view that despite the pressure in the polity, Q3’18 corporate earnings are unlikely to be excessively negative in the light of the recovery in the broader economy, adding that bottom line numbers for some of the companies are set to improve. Read more