Co-operative Bank of Kenya’s income from interest charged on loans and advances has grown 84 percent to 11.07 billion shillings in the six months to June this year from 6.02 billion shillings in the same period last year.

Sources at the bank tell Pesatalk that the growth in interest income is because of the higher interest rates charged during the first half of this year compared to the first half of 2011.

During the six months to June this year, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) maintained the base lending rate at 18 percent compared to an average of 6 percent in the first half of 2011. This resulted in higher interest charges and earnings from the same by commercial banks which adjusted their interest rates upwards based on the higher CBK rate.

Our source at the bank also told us that the bank’s loan book had grown during the period, contributing to the higher interest earnings.

Coop Bank’s official unaudited results released today morning also show that the bank’s assets grew by 12.6 billion shillings to 176.9 billion shillings from 164.3 billion shillings in the same period last year.

This has placed the bank ahead of Barclays Bank which had assets of 168.8 billion by mid this year. KCB and Equity Bank are however still in the lead in terms of asset base with 295.5 and 195.6 billion shillings in assets respectively.