The country’s largest building society and mortgage outfit, Botswana Building Society (BBS) has reported profit amounting to P68 million during 2013/14, reflecting a 4 percent decline compared to the 2012/13 financial year.
BBS, an enterprise looking into the future involving a commercial banking licence, attributes the 4 percent decline to the cost of running the business.
The society’s financial statements for the year that ended in March this year shows that its total expenses increased by 13 percent from P106.156 million in the prior year to P120.548 million during the year under review.
However, while profitability declined, BBS’s asset base remained strong as it grew by 5 percent from P2.897 billion 2012-2013) to P3.045 billion 2013-2014.
BBS Managing Director, Pius Molefe, highlighted that it is a clear indication that the business is doing well despite constraints imposed on the business by the current legislative framework. He stated they have a strong asset base on which to set up a commercialised entity.
Further, BBS stated that Batswana continued to show confidence in the Society, given that the customer savings and fixed deposit accounts increased by 9 percent from P591.698 million (2012/13) to P646.665 million in 2013-2014.
At the same time, BBS’s premium investment products, Indefinite Period Paid Up Shares, grew from P619.030 million in the previous year to P726.712 million in the year under review or by 17 percent, signaling the interest that it commands in the market.
“We only experienced a decline of 1 percent in Paid Up and Subscription Shares from P489.988 million for 2012-2013) to P483.555 million 2013-2014,” Molefe stated.
BBS’s fee and commission income was up by 12 percent during the year under review from P23.298 million in 2012-2013) to P26.168 million 2013-2014 while interest income increased by 2 percent from P278.478 million 2012-2013 to P284.578 million 2013-2014 amid the current low interest rate environment.
“At Botswana Building Society, we have long made a commitment to be true to our value system whose intrinsic message is to provide our customers and stakeholders with outstanding service,” Molefe stated.
He is of the view that it is because of placing excellent customer service front and centre that the performance continues to be commendable.
Molefe stated that therefore, the performance of the Society is underpinned by the hard work put into implementing new interventions to improve customer service.
He pointed out that the society has also installed two new off-site Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in Kanye and at the Francistown bus rank to increase accessibility of banking services by its customers.
He added that it is the first time that they have presence in Kanye and hope to increase it to other key centres in the country.
