South Africa-based Standard Bank Group Ltd. reported first-half headline earnings of 13.36 billion rand, up from 12.66 billion rand in the same period in 2018.

Headline EPS came in at 8.37 rand, up from 7.94 rand a year earlier.

Return on equity was 16.2% in the period, down from the year-ago 16.8%.

First-half unaudited profit attributable to ordinary shareholders stood at 13.20 billion rand, up from 12.71 billion rand a year ago.

Net interest income totaled 31.27 billion rand in the half, compared to the year-ago 28.68 billion rand. Net fee and commission revenue grew year over year to 15.11 billion rand from 14.81 billion rand. Trading revenue also rose on a yearly basis, to 5.81 billion rand from 5.47 billion rand.

The banking group booked credit impairment charges of 4.25 billion rand, up from 3.53 billion rand a year earlier.

Operating expenses from banking activities increased on a yearly basis to 30.94 billion rand from 29.21 billion rand, while operating expenses from investment management and life insurance activities fell year over year to 8.13 billion rand from 8.69 billion rand.

As of June-end, the group's common equity Tier 1 ratio was 14.0%, compared to 13.5% at the end of 2018 and 13.8% at the end of June 2018.

Standard Bank Group's board decided to pay a dividend of 4.54 rand per share for the first half, up from 4.30 rand per share a year earlier.

As of Aug. 7, US$1 was equivalent to 15.09 South African rand.