Republic Bank Ltd recorded profit attributable to shareholders of $291.2 million for the three-month period ended December 31, 2013, an increase of 2.2 per cent over the corresponding period last year, chairman Ronald Harford said in the one-page results released yesterday.In British accounting, net income is known as "profit attributable to shareholders."
Total assets stood at $57.9 billion as at December 31, 2013, an increase of 6.7 per cent from December 2012 and 0.5 per cent over the year ended September 30, 2013, Harford said."We are encouraged by the growth and stability of our loan portfolio, reflected in a year-on-year increase of 7.3 per cent, and a reduction in loan impairment expense of over $15 million from the corresponding period in 2012. However, we continue to be challenged by high liquidity which is leading to declining margins," he said.
The chairman said in his comments on the results that they "also include a contribution of $10 million from our 40 per cent investment in HFC Bank Ghana Ltd."He said: "We expect this good performance to continue for the remainder of the year as we focus on growing the loan portfolio, maintaining its quality and growth in non-interest income. We continue to closely monitor our investments in Barbados and the East Caribbean in which difficult economic conditions persist."