ZANACO Bank Plc has declared a dividend of K421 million to shareholders after recording total revenue growth of K3.94 billion, growing it from K3.5 billion in 2021 .

During a post – annual general meeting media today, Zanaco board chairperson Patrick Wanjelani said 2022 was another great year for Zanaco as the bank recorded revenue growth of 11 percent year on year to K3.94 billion.

”With the performance that we recorded in our 2022 financial year, we are pleased to announce that we have declared a dividend of 29 ngwee per share. This is a 16 percent increase from the 25 ngwee per share we declared in 2021,” Mr Wanjelani said.

In 2021, dividend per share was K25 ngwee.

In 2022 financial year, Zanaco declared K361 million.

“Our performance was attributed to the bank’s focus on delivering on our strategy as well as our participation in key growth sectors as we continue to position ourselves as a key partner for our customers’ growth,” Mr Wanjelani said.

He said sustainability has become a cardinal focus in the bank’s strategy.

“We have developed a sustainability framework and taken deliberate steps to achieve the targets set within the framework. In 2022, we made progress in our branch and ATM (automated teller machine) solar implementation programme as part of our climate resilience agenda and were further accredited to the Global Climate Fund,” Mr Wanjelani said.

Mr Wanjelani said additionally, the bank established an agreement with the British International Investment for the extension of funding to Small and Medium Enterprises, women, and climate initiatives.

“We continue to realize value from innovation and harnessing identified growth opportunities in the market by constantly repositioning the business in line with our mandate. We believe the bank is well positioned to deliver the promises of its ambition to be the top transaction customer-centric bank by the year 2025,” he said

He said as the bank reflects on its five-year strategy, it is proud of the progress it has made in realising the key aspects of its plan and exceeding in several of the initial performance metrics as set out initially.

“We owe our performance to our four million account holders, who have been loyal to the bank that has been in existence for over the 53 years. As we look to the future, I am confident that the bank will not only maintain its leading position on the market, but build on the successes achieved so far, for this home-grown bank to attain greater milestones,” Mr Wanjelani said.

And Zanaco chief executive officer, Mukwandi Chibesakunda reiterated that 2022 was another exciting at Zanaco as the bank continued to receive both local and international awards that recognised the achievements the bank continues to make in driving its digital agenda, improving service delivery, solutioning for key segments such as the SME and female economy, advancing our sustainability agenda, focusing on sound corporate governance and consistent financial performance.

Ms Chibesakunda said for a second year Zanaco recorded the highest profit after tax in the industry, as per Prudential results published, allowing the bank to maintain its leading position in the market.

“We continue to make steady progress with our digital transformation journey. And we have enhanced our Xpress agency model with the introduction of instore presence in retail stores such as Shoprite, Choppies and Cheers. Our Xpress agent footprint has grown from 16,758 in 2021 to over 22,000 at the end of 2022,” she said.

Ms Chibesakunda said some of the key strategic initiatives delivered during 2022 included embedding of sustainability into its strategic plans and initiatives; expansion of our product suite for the appropriate solutioning to match customer needs and improvement of customer touch points to enhance service delivery.

“We further delivered on service quality monitoring to improve our customers’ journey. To support the growth in our client base, we continued to evolve our approach to client experience by repositioning the model for effective impact,” she said.

Ms Chibesakuna said the growth in its client base to four million customers from 2.5 million in 2021 is a demonstration of what Zanaco stands for, the diverse mix of it serve and the positive impact it is having on millions of people and businesses in the country.

She said in terms of performance, the bank’s balance sheet presented a growth of 37 percent supported by a 54 percent growth in deposits.

“We further maintained market leadership in loans and advances which closed at K12.12 billion at year end. For our future outlook, we remain focused on delivering on our mid-term plans to maintain our leading position on the market. We will continue to drive our digital agenda and make sustainability integral to our operations by embedding it across our business segments,” Ms Chibesakunda said

She believes the future of financial services is digital and green and prioritising digitisation and sustainability will help drive the bank's future growth.