Windhoek
The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority’s first quarterly report of 2015 released late last week paints a rosy picture of the country’s financial services sector, as local financial markets continue to grow and post positive returns.
NAMFISA’s latest report states that at March 31, 2015, the consolidated industry statistics on assets, liabilities, surpluses and reserves for insurance, medical aid funds and pension funds show that the regulated entities are financially stable.
“According to the comparative levels of contributions received, claims paid and expenses at industry level, there were no major risk factors identified as immediate threats to liquidity,” the report states.
Assets Management
At the end of the first quarter of 2015 investment managers had N$142.4 billion in assets under management and increased by a staggering N$6.2 billion (4.6 percent) from N$136.2 billion on December 31, 2014.
“The growth in assets can be attributed to capital growth and new inflows from investors. Pension funds contributed 8 percent to the growth in assets, while unit trust schemes and long-term insurers added 2.8 percent and 2.1 percent for the quarter.
The asset managers invested 50.1 percent of their funds in the Common Monetary Area (CMA) and offshore markets, with the CMA accounting for 37 percent of the total. The assets invested in Namibia increased to 49.9 percent from 49.0 percent in Q4-2014.
The quarterly report further shows that the market value of the 34 companies listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) increased by 5.8 percent to N$1.8 trillion by the end of the quarter.
This increase in market capitalisation is largely due to gains in prices of securities dual-listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and other markets.
NSX-listed equity market investments, which made up 49.8 percent of the local market, gained 7.2 percent annually compared to 9.8 percent on the JSE/FTSE All Share Index.
The local market contributed positively and gained 6.4 percent quarterly and 21.8 percent annually,” NAMFISA reported.
Micro-lenders
Meanwhile, the total value of loans disbursed by micro-lenders rose, quarter-on-quarter, by 14.10 percent (N$78.9 million) to N$638.3 million. The total value of the loan book thus increased to N$3.5 billion from N$3.4 billion.
NAMFISA explained that the increase in the value of loans disbursed over the period is predominantly reflected in term-lending transactions, which rose by 20.25 percent, quarter-on-quarter (by N$78.9 million to N$468 million), while the category of ‘pay-day lenders’ remained almost constant.
Similarly, on a yearly basis, the total value of disbursements rose by a huge margin of 20.23 percent, reflected mainly in term-lending transactions.
NAMFISA’s quarterly statistical report on the performance of Namibia’s financial markets is based on the overall market capitalisation and assets under the management of Collective Investment Schemes and Asset Managers.