JOHANNESBURG, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Africa’s biggest lender by assets Standard Bank said on Thursday its half-year profit rose by 4%, with performance supported by franchise growth in its banking businesses and strong earnings growth in its insurance and asset management unit.

South Africa-based Standard Bank said headline earnings rose to 22 billion rand ($1.22 billion) in the six months ended June 30, up from 21.2 billion rand in the previous year.

Standard Bank, with operations in 20 sub-Saharan African countries, said further earnings growth was hindered by currency devaluations across its operations in the rest of Africa, which contributed 41% to group headline earnings.

Net interest income (NII) – the amount banks earn from loans minus what they pay on deposits- in its banking business grew by 7%.

Gross loans and advances grew by 3% to 1.7 trillion rand, as increased competition and higher interest rates negatively impacted demand and affordability, resulting in subdued growth in the bank’s retail portfolios.

This, however, “was more than offset by strong momentum in the corporate and sovereign lending portfolio” supported by projects in the energy and infrastructure sector.

Total provisions for credit impairments increased by 8% to 66.8 billion rand, while credit impairment charges decreased by 15% to 8 billion rand.

($1 = 18.0562 rand)

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Kim Coghill and Toby Chopra)