JOHANNESBURG, March 13 (Reuters) – Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender by assets, on Thursday reported a 4% jump in annual profit and forecast headline earnings per share (HEPS) growth of 8%-12% in the medium term.

The South Africa-based lender said its headline earnings rose to 44.5 billion rand ($2.42 billion) in the year ended December 31 from 42.9 billion rand in the previous year.

It also said that the HEPS was up 4% at 26.91 rand.

The new medium-term target for HEPS is for 2026 to 2028, the bank said. Its return on equity target range for the period is 18%-22%.

For the current reporting period, the lender’s net income grew 2% to 181.7 billion rand, driven by a 3% increase in its net interest income to 101 billion rand.

Growth in loans and advances rose a mere 2% due to lower consumer affordability and demand for credit as interest rates remained high, on average, in 2024, the bank said.

Credit impairment charges fell 7% to 15 billion rand, largely due to a slowdown in early arrears and inflows into non-performing loans in the retail and business segments.

($1 = 18.3709 rand)

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Christopher Cushing)