Fiji’s only locally owned bank has declared just over $12m in dividends.

HFC Board Chair, Tom Ricketts, confirms a little over $9m will be paid to the Fiji National Provident Fund which is 75 percent shareholder.

$3m will go to the Unit Trust of Fiji which owns 25 percent of HFC.

Ricketts says it is pleasing that the Bank has performed remarkably well during this period and all profits are retained and distributed to Fijians.

Chief Executive, Rakesh Ram, says during the financial year ending 30th June 2021, HFC posted a net profit after tax of $15.04m, compared to $9.025m last year.

He says the improved performance has been underpinned by continued strong growth in lending assets and growing corporate market share.

This is evident from consistent growth in net lending, averaging $100m for the last 4 years and total assets worth $1.41B, a growth of 10%.

Ram says he is optimistic about economic recovery based on the national vaccination rate which is expected to normalize businesses shortly, improve the loan asset quality.