Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has said it will continue to focus on the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and retail customer segments as it intensifies its expansion drive.
DTB opened three new branches in Baba Dogo, Kijabe Street, and Kiambu Town, pushing the Group’s branch network to 70 in Kenya and 138 across East Africa.
“DTB’s growing network of branches represents our ongoing commitment to be closer to our customers and providing them with easy and convenient access to our services,” DTB Group Chief Executive Officer Nasim Devji said.
“The new branches, targeting traders, farmers, and other business owners and retailers, will offer a wide range of innovative products and services to our customers in Kiambu and Nairobi counties while also giving them a space where they can come in and talk to us as we explore ways of supporting each other,” added Ms Devji.
We are pleased to announce the opening of three new DTB branches located in Baba Dogo, Kijabe Street and Kiambu town in an effort to bring banking services closer to our customers.#BankWithUsBankOnUs pic.twitter.com/yhyUANy5JP
— DTB Kenya (@DTBKenya) March 21, 2023
In 2022, DTB opened six branches across Nairobi, Mombasa and Kiambu counties to enhance customer satisfaction.
The 2022 banking industry customer satisfaction survey by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) shows that preference for branch banking spiked to 17.6 per cent in 2022, surging past the 2019 levels of 13 per cent before the Covid-19 pandemic drove customers to mobile channels.
The Group’s total liabilities grew by 14.3% to Kshs 408.4 billion, from Kshs 357.4 billion in H1’2021, driven by a 10.4% increase in customer deposits to Kshs 346.5 billion from Kshs 313.8 billion in H1’2021, coupled with an 85.6% increase in placements to Kshs 27.8 billion from Ksh 15.0 billion in H1’2021.
Deposits per branch increased by 14.7% to Kshs 2.7 billion from Kshs 2.3 billion, as the number declined to 129 in H1 2022 from 134 in H1 2021 after the Group closed six branches in Kenya were close to each other but opened one branch in Uganda.
“We expect staff costs and other operating expenses to increase further as the bank is set to open 17 more branches in Kenya by the end of 2022. In the long term, we expect to see the strategy give back to the Group the strategy,” said Cytonn Investments in its Diamond Trust Bank Kenya (DTB-K) H1’2022 Earnings Note.
The bank’s operating efficiency declined, as evidenced by the cost-to-income ratio without Loan loss Provision increasing to 46.1% from 45.3% in H1’2022.
