Commercial banks’ earnings from foreign exchange trading for nine months through September nearly doubled on higher demand for the dollar amid widening margins.
The Business Daily’s analysis of published financial performance statements shows tier-one banks earned Sh52.89 billion from trading in currencies in the review period compared with Sh28.27 billion in the same period the year before.
Bank executives attributed the 87.11 per cent year-on-year growth for the nine top lenders to increased demand for the dollar because of higher prices of commodities like petroleum products, which sparked fierce competition for the greenback this year.
