It also achieved a 32.27% growth in total assets in the same period. In the short term, Baiduri aims to be among the top three players in each of its business segments: retail and corporate banking services, and consumer finance.
Last year, the bank developed a three-pronged strategy for growth. With the effective implementation of this strategy, its income from fee, commission and service charges plus foreign exchange profit and other income rose 13.44% in 2006. Through the active management of pricing of liabilities, interest on customer deposits and savings were kept firmly under control, declining from 2.43% in 2005 to 2.40% last year. Thanks to a conservative excess liquidity policy, rigorous interest rate management and enhanced risk-based pricing for lending, the bank was able to increase its net interest margin from 3.39% to 3.49% in the 2005-06 period. An integral part of the group is automobile hire purchase and leasing operation Baiduri Finance, which grew its hire purchase portfolio 27.67% in the year.
“I am delighted to accept this prestigious award on behalf of Baiduri Bank, the seventh time in our 13-year history,” says chief executive Pierre Imhof. “Baiduri Bank Group has consistently recorded an annual net profit growth exceeding 60% in the past three years. This is a great achievement considering that we are competing against multinationals and government-backed organisations, and in a market where the economy has recorded single-digit growths during the same period.
“I strongly believe that we won due to our many strengths: innovation, creativity, professionalism, efficiency and service quality. These have been possible thanks to the synergy created by having strong local knowledge and international expertise.”
