- Accounts for Birr 1.19 billion in pre-tax profit
- Total assets extended to 34.1 billion Birr.
- 8.1 million Birr in funding for CSR
Buna Bank SC, which has more than thirteen thousand shareholders, held its 13th regular and 6th emergency annual shareholders general meeting on Sunday, December 4, 2022.
The meeting was held at Addis Park Millennium Hall and attended by the majority of shareholders of the bank. The 2021/22 FY report has also been disclosed to the shareholders by Ambassador Alemayehu Sewagegn, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank.
According to the report disclosed by the chairperson of the BOD, the bank earned a profit of 1.19 billion birr before tax at the end of the fiscal year and was able to mobilize more than 27.2 billion birr in deposits by the stated period.
The report also discussed that the total amount of deposits the bank has been able to mobilize is birr 27.2 billion, with a significant increment of birr 6.7 billion in the year 2021/22. Of all the deposit schemes, the savings account has taken the largest share, which is 78.6 percent.
According to the report read by the chairperson, Bunna Bank has been able to withstand the severe national economic slowdown caused mainly by the COVID-19 epidemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war, and a lack of peace and security in the country and has been able to maintain its profitability and achieve a higher level of performance than the last year. “This can be taken as an encouraging result for all the shareholders and also the general employees of Bunna Bank,” said Ambassador Alemayehu,
According to the report disclosed by the chairperson, the remittances coming from abroad were significantly reduced due to the effects of the global and national problems mentioned earlier, in addition to the slowdown in export trade, which has put negative pressure on the bank’s performance through foreign currency acquisition. The report also pointed out that the bank’s foreign currency earnings during the year were about 149.1 million USD. Out of this, 51.3 % of the dollar amount is mobilized from export trade. The report also notes that Bunna Bank is currently working with ten foreign money transfer agents until the end of the fiscal year.
His report stated that the bank’s credit performance by the budget year showed an increasing outcome. According to this, the bank approved a total of 7.6 billion birr in loans to various economic sectors in the budget year 2021/22, and it has been stated that the amount of loans appropriated to various economic sectors has increased by 41.3 percent and reached 25.85 billion birr [the aggregate amount] as of June 30, 2022.
The bank’s asset was also mentioned in the chairperson’s report. During the fiscal year just ended, the bank’s total assets increased by birr 8.16 billion to birr 34.1 billion.
It has also been said that the total capital of the bank showed an increase of 1.2 billion birr in the 2021/22 FY, which put the gain at 5.1 billion birr.
Regarding new branch openings, the report figured out that Bunna Bnak opened 58 new branches during the concluded fiscal year, which boosted its access to customers and increased its capacity to mobilize deposits. This brought the total number of branches serving customers to 343 at the end of the fiscal year just ended, 2021/22.
Ambassador Alemayehu has also explained in his report the rise in the number of the bank’s deposit customers, which amounted to 572,334 in the fiscal year and recorded a growth of 41.2 percent compared to the previous year. “This performance has enabled us to record 1 million, 960, and 853 customers in total at the end of the fiscal year,” said the chairperson.
To further promote its interest-free banking services, Bunna Bank has acquired a legally registered brand name called “KHADIM” and started using it at the end of the fiscal year. Besides, the report by the chairperson also indicated that the total amount of deposits mobilized from interest-free banking services reached to birr 896.6 million at the end of the fiscal year. Similarly, 52 thousand new interest-free accounts were opened by customers in the last fiscal year, bringing the total number of interest-free customers at the bank to 112 thousand, the report stated. Besides, the report of the board chairman explained about the bank’s growth in human capital development and gives emphasis as a key issue for the bank’s success.
The chairperson of the board of directors also underlined the CSR activities of Bunna Bank in his report, saying that the bank positively responded to development assistance requests by the government that could potentially impact the improvement of citizens’ lives. Accordingly, the bank extended 8.1 million birr in support to those development programs as a CSR. Moreover, the Chairperson explained his confirmation of the bank’s commitment to continue strengthening its corporate social responsibility programs in the future.
In his conclusion remark, the chairman of the BOD indicated that Bunna Bank is working hard to secure a plot of land for the construction of its new headquarters, increasing the bank’s asset as well as building its image. He explained that the bank has settled the lease payment and is preparing to take over 4,530 square meters of land for the construction of its headquarters in the area known as Hotel D ‘Afrique, in Addis Ababa city administration.
