The Seychelles Commercial Bank (SCB) has announced a net profit of R20.66 million for 2016, a staggering 72% increase from R12.04 million in 2015.
The SCB board of directors revealed this during the bank’s 6th Annual General Meeting (AGM) with its shareholders which was held on July 20 at the International Conference Centre Seychelles (ICCS).
As a result the board recommended a dividend payment of R10 rupees per share which represent a 10% return on investment which is expected be paid to the shareholders by today. The total dividend payout will amount to R6 million, an increase from R4.8 million in 2015.
In fact SCB made several other milestone achievements for the 2016 financial year:
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The total size of the balance sheet crossed the R1 billion threshold, reaching an all-time high of R1.19 billion.
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The total customer deposit also surpassed the R1 billion milestone – an increase from R831 million in 2015 to 1.03 billion rupees in 2016.
The newly appointed managing director of SCB, Annie Vidot, said “SCB has achieved a remarkable feat. Our solid growth demonstrates that we can indeed compete with other banks”.
Apart from details related to financial matters the AGM also saw the election of a 7th director on the board. The shareholders voted in favour of Jashmed Pardiwalla over Marie-Ange Waye-Hive, with 53 out of 74 votes going to Mr Pardiwalla.
As soon as the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) approves his nomination Mr Pardiwalla will join Patrick Payet, the acting chairman, Annie Vidot, Robert Morgan, Esther Boniface, Sandy Mothée and Jenna Thelermont on the board of directors.
Mr Pardiwalla along with Mr Morgan will be representing around 3300 shareholders who hold 40% share in SCB. The Government of Seychelles remains the single largest shareholder in SCB with 60% shares.
Since a change of name in 2013 and subsequent re-branding SCB has seen it fit to embark on a series of ambitious ventures such as the implementation of online banking, Point-Of-Sale (POS) machines and international debit cards which are expected to be available by the end of this year.
“It is important for SCB to provide these facilities if we want to attract new customers and achieve our vision of becoming one of the leading banks in Seychelles by 2025” Mr Payet stated.
In their efforts to make this vision become a reality SCB is planning to construct its own building with the objective of providing top-quality service to its customers under one roof. Negotiations surrounding this project are still ongoing and more information is expected to be relayed forth during next year’s AGM.