Letshego spends N$160 million on home loans

Letshego Bank Namibia recorded exceptional growth in its two-year-old affordable housing loan book, rising from N$23 million in December 2023 to about N$160 million by 31 December 2024.

This was said by the bank’s chief executive officer, Ester Kali, in an exclusive interview with The Namibian last Wednesday.

As at December 2024, the bank had extended home loans to 200 customers, she said.

“We implemented this product to help address the dire need for decent housing in Namibia, and it is still growing,” she said.

Kali said the increase in advances to customers has contributed to the bank’s total revenue increase of 15% year on year, and a profit after tax of N$418 million.

The bank’s housing initiative dovetails into one of the government’s objectives, with president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah saying in her state of the nation address on Thursday that her administration plans to construct 10 000 low-cost social housing units per year and 50 000 units over the five-year term.

Kali said regarding Letshego’s other core products, the deduction at source loans experienced a 10% growth in the last 12 months to December 2024.

“While initially these were predominantly offered to government and parastatal employees, we also extend the offer to the private sector if employers can guarantee repayments are deducted from the payroll before salaries are paid, making these loans fairly low-risk,” she said.

“We encourage people to take loans for investment – loans that would help uplift them, instead of taking loans for luxury spending,” she said.

The veteran banker with more than 35 years’ experience in the sector said the financial institution has introduced an inclusive personal loan product at bank level, for which instalments are collectible through a debit order.

Speaking on the bank’s expansion programme, Kali said the institution has 16 branches in the country, six of which offer full banking services.

Kali says the bank also has a footprint in southern Namibia, having established an agency at Keetmanshoop, and is also looking for opportunities at Lüderitz.

“There is no reason why we should not expand into those areas, given the expected boom in the oil and gas sector, and we are investigating opportunities in that sector,” she said.

On the bank’s products, Kali said scaling the deposits portfolio through the savings and investment portfolio is critical to its funding strategy.

“Our term and flexible savings accounts offer customers a reliable avenue for investing their money and benefiting from preferential pricing structures as these accounts deliver consistent and competitive returns,” she said.

“Our LetsGo transactional bank accounts allow customers to use any other bank’s ATMs and point-of-sale devices nationwide, facilitating convenient payments across a broad distribution network,” she said.

Kali, however, dismissed claims that banks made super profits through high bank charges.

“The Bank of Namibia recently conducted a survey which revealed that Letshego had the lowest bank charges.

This is because of our focus on mobile-first banking, focusing more on digital banking than setting up costly infrastructure for which our customers would pay,” she said.

She said Letshego has a presence in 11 African countries.

“In addition, the continent has abundant raw materials for local economic activities, as well as a booming energy sector which could provide the bank some opportunities.

“The bank continues to review its three-year strategic plan to ensure it still provides appropriate services to the customers,” she said.

– email: [email protected]