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HOPES: Bank BIC Namibia’s CEO Lindsay Crawford. PHOTO: CONTRIBUTED
HOPES: Bank BIC Namibia’s CEO Lindsay Crawford. PHOTO: CONTRIBUTED

Bank BIC CEO remains optimistic despite N$218m losses

Set to turn financial tide towards end of 2023
"We are evolving from a start-up operation. Initial capital and operational costs are exceptionally high in a business of this nature," the CEO said.
Ogone Tlhage
Bank BIC Namibia’s CEO Lindsay Crawford is optimistic the bank will turn the financial tide towards the end of 2023, after struggling to get onto its feet since its inception.

Shareholders in the Angolan-backed lender have incurred accumulated losses to the value of N$218 million since 2016.

Despite this anomaly, the bank’s shareholders, including Banco BIC Angola SA, have so far pumped N$600 million into the entity.

The bank made a total comprehensive loss of N$53.9 million for the 2021 financial year, with this attributable to its shareholders’ standing at N$51.2 million for 2021 alone.

Crawford, in his response to Namibian Sun queries this week, believes the bank is a focal point for trade between Namibia and Angola and its fee structure is competitive.

Asked to comment on the unenviable loss-making position the bank finds itself, he said: “We believe this is sensationalism, nothing else”.

“We are evolving from a start-up operation. Initial capital and operational costs are exceptionally high in a business of this nature. We do not have economies of scale, which will happen moving forward,” he said.

Millions of dollars

Apart from one incident of staff member-related fraud, Crawford said the bank has not written off any bad credit debts since it started operations.

It has, however, been unable to reign in its losses over the years, with its year-on-year loss growing by N$8.2 million for 2021 and 2020.

A look at its income statement for the same period indicates that the bank generated N$16.2 million in net interest income after impairment of loans and advances. Other income generated by the bank for the period includes fees and commission of N$2.2 million and extraordinary income of N$6.2 million as well as other income, totalling N$23.5 million earned from operations.

The bank’s liabilities from institutions stood at N$84.2 million, while loans from financial institutions stood at N$54.5 million.

However, the bank’s expenses far outweigh income derived for the same period, with staff costs amounting to N$34 million, N$28.8 million in operating expenditures, N$13.5 million in depreciation and amortisation and N$1.08 million in finance costs, its income statement showed.

The bank’s cash flow statement showed that it had utilised N$43.3 million for its day-to-day operations, generating only N$19 million in income earned from interest rates and N$2.2 million in income from services and commission, far less than its operational expense of N$60.5 million in cash paid to suppliers and employees.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-08

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