First National Bank of Eswatini Limited has delivered a high-impact financial performance for the six months ended December 2025, headlined by an 8.2% increase in Profit Before Tax to E184.6 million from the previous year’s E170.6 million.
According to the bank’s financials for the period, as published in the Eswatini Stock Exchange (ESE) website recently, this 8.2% jump in profitability is backed by a balance sheet that has ballooned by 26% year-on-year.
The bottom line was further bolstered by an improvement in Earnings Per Share, which climbed to 101 cents against 97 cents in 2024, representing a 4.1% increase for shareholders.
Perhaps the most aggressive growth was seen in the bank’s deposit book, which skyrocketed by 34.7% to reach E9.315 billion, up from E6.914 billion just twelve months prior.
This influx of liquidity has fundamentally reshaped the bank’s structural position, driving the Loans to Deposit Ratio down to 57% from 63%.
While customer deposits surged, the bank also aggressively expanded its lending, with loans to customers before provisions jumping from E4.357 billion to E5.307 billion.
This 21.8% rise in advances was met with a dramatic tightening of risk management. The Credit Loss Ratio plummeted from 0.42% to a razor-thin 0.19%, indicating a significantly cleaner and more resilient loan book.
Despite a slight uptick in the Cost to Income ratio to 64.7%, the bank’s Return on Assets improved to 2.4%, proving that FNB is extracting more value from its expanding asset base than ever before.
The operational environment provided the perfect stage for these numbers to materialize. Eswatini’s inflation collapsed from 3.9% in December 2024 to a lean 2.3% by the end of 2025, prompting a 25-basis-point cut in the discount rate to 6.75% earlier in the year.
This easing of monetary pressure fueled a 13% growth in non-interest revenue, as customers flooded digital and self-service channels.
With credit to the private sector growing by 8% and business credit specifically seeing double-digit growth of 12%, FNB Eswatini has positioned itself as the primary engine for the Kingdom’s private-sector-led recovery, maintaining a strong capital position that comfortably exceeds all regulatory minimums.