THE Nedbank Group headline earnings for the year ended December 31, 2025 increased by two per cent to E17.2 billion.
The return on equity (ROE) decreased to 15.4 per cent last year, compared to 15.8 per cent in 2024, but remained above the group’s cost of equity (COE).
Dr Terrence Sibiya, Managing Executive of Nedbank Africa Region (NAR), said the increase in headline earnings (HE) was driven by an improvement in the impairment charge and slow revenue growth.
Speaking during a virtual meeting at the Nedbank Eswatini Headquarters yesterday, he said other contributing factors included a decline in associate income in the second half of the year following the sale of the group’s shareholding in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), as well as expense growth that included a once-off settlement with Transnet.
He noted that the balance sheet metrics remained strong, enabling the declaration of a final dividend of 1104 cents per share.
Dr Sibiya said the group delivered fair and balanced results and contained expenses to three per cent compared to one per cent recorded in 2024.
He further noted that the credit loss ratio decreased to 125 basis points, attributed to improved credit origination, better assessment of probability of default, improved collections and management of expected credit losses.
Through the Ecobank investment, he said the group was able to shift focus to East Africa. The Kenyan bank services a population of 60 million people through digitisation and has branches in Rwanda, Tanzania, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
“Consumers remain under pressure despite the easing of interest rates and the general economy is not out of the woods yet,” said Dr Sibiya.
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He added that current geopolitical developments were having an immediate impact on oil prices. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a net importer of oil and gas, which places additional pressure on inflation and affects consumers.
He noted that the lilangeni is pegged to the South African rand. As the rand strengthened against the United States dollar, ranging between E15 and E16 per dollar, investors shifted towards safer investments such as gold when it touched E17 on Monday.
“The Central Bank of Eswatini might put on hold the interest rate cycle,” he said.
Meanwhile, Fikile Nkosi, Managing Director of Nedbank Eswatini, said a number of businesses were still struggling to fully recover from the COVID-19 era.
She said the bank was continuing to support those businesses while strengthening credit risk management processes referenced by Dr Sibiya.
Nkosi said a potential hold on interest rates by the CBE, driven by geopolitical developments, could further affect the cost of living.
“We are a net importer of oil; once it affects oil, it affects everything else. We are cautious going forward to ensure that we walk with, manage and support our clients during these unpredictable and turbulent times,” she said.
She added that the bank aims to maintain and strengthen businesses going forward, while investing in staff training in credit origination and innovation in risk management systems to avoid defaults and protect the income statement.
