Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender by assets, reported a 10% increase in half-year headline earnings on Thursday, supported by sustained growth in fee and trading revenues and lower credit impairment charges.
The South African-based bank said headline earnings rose to 26.1 billion rand ($1.62 billion) for the six months ended June 30, compared with the previous year.
In its banking operations, net interest income increased 4% to 53.6 billion rand, supported by healthy deal activity in its Corporate and Investment Banking division and modest loan growth across its business and personal banking operations.
However, net interest margin narrowed to 472 basis points from 489 basis points a year earlier.
The bank attributed the decline to the lower interest rate environment and competitive pricing pressures across some of its retail and business portfolios.
Net fee and commission revenue increased 7% to 18.4 billion rand, driven by stronger corporate debt financing activity, higher transaction volumes in business and personal banking and increased client activity.
Trading revenue also increased, rising 8% during the period.
Standard Bank’s credit performance improved during the first half, with credit impairment charges falling 12% to 7.1 billion rand.
The decline reflected improved credit performance across the group’s loan portfolio.
As a result, the group’s credit loss ratio, which measures bad loans relative to total loans, improved to 73 basis points from 93 basis points in 2025.
The stronger earnings performance also enabled the bank to increase returns to shareholders.
Standard Bank declared an interim dividend of 902 cents per share, representing a 10% increase from the previous year.
The results underscore the lender’s ability to sustain earnings growth through increased non-interest revenue and improved credit performance despite pressure on margins from lower interest rates and competitive pricing.
