Financial system stable, resilient in 2023
No risks of collapse
The stability of banking and non-banking financial institutions remains sound.
The Namibian financial system, which is made up of the banking and non-banking sectors as well as payment systems and infrastructure, continued to be stable, sound and resilient throughout 2023, financial regulators the Bank of Namibia (BoN) and the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa) said in a joint statement.
This follows the release of the Namibia Financial Stability Report for 2023.
“The banking sector financial soundness indicators remained at comfortable levels during 2023, with the growth in assets outpacing the prevailing inflation rate. The sector reported healthy profitability and liquidity positions with capital adequacy well above the prudential requirements. Asset quality deteriorated during 2023, however, it remained below the crisis time supervisory intervention trigger point of 6%,” the regulators said.
Meanwhile, the non-bank financial institutions sector remained financially stable and sound despite the contractionary monetary policy environment, the regulators explained.
“The national payment system and infrastructure remained stable, while efficiently contributing towards reliability in payments. Since the last financial stability report, growth in both household and corporate debt slowed in 2023."
Within the banking space, despite the increase in non-performing loans (NPL), it did not serve as a significant risk to the financial system.
“Asset quality, as measured by the NPL ratio, deteriorated in 2023, but remained below the crisis time supervisory intervention trigger point of 6%. Despite an increase in NPLs, the overall impact of risks from the banking sector did not appear significant during the review period. It was therefore not deemed to pose an imminent threat to financial stability in Namibia,” the regulators said.
Climate-related risk was a concern for the two respective regulators going forward.
“Climate-related risk is a growing concern around the globe and has the potential to affect the financial system through physical and transition risks. Moreover, managing cyber risk is not merely about protecting information technology assets, but is crucial for maintaining the overall stability and integrity of the financial system," the BoN and Namfisa said.
This follows the release of the Namibia Financial Stability Report for 2023.
“The banking sector financial soundness indicators remained at comfortable levels during 2023, with the growth in assets outpacing the prevailing inflation rate. The sector reported healthy profitability and liquidity positions with capital adequacy well above the prudential requirements. Asset quality deteriorated during 2023, however, it remained below the crisis time supervisory intervention trigger point of 6%,” the regulators said.
Meanwhile, the non-bank financial institutions sector remained financially stable and sound despite the contractionary monetary policy environment, the regulators explained.
“The national payment system and infrastructure remained stable, while efficiently contributing towards reliability in payments. Since the last financial stability report, growth in both household and corporate debt slowed in 2023."
Within the banking space, despite the increase in non-performing loans (NPL), it did not serve as a significant risk to the financial system.
“Asset quality, as measured by the NPL ratio, deteriorated in 2023, but remained below the crisis time supervisory intervention trigger point of 6%. Despite an increase in NPLs, the overall impact of risks from the banking sector did not appear significant during the review period. It was therefore not deemed to pose an imminent threat to financial stability in Namibia,” the regulators said.
Climate-related risk was a concern for the two respective regulators going forward.
“Climate-related risk is a growing concern around the globe and has the potential to affect the financial system through physical and transition risks. Moreover, managing cyber risk is not merely about protecting information technology assets, but is crucial for maintaining the overall stability and integrity of the financial system," the BoN and Namfisa said.
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