Kenya’s CFC Stanbic bank, a unit Standard Bank Group a leading African financial services organisation, has announced a 61 percent jump in pretax profit for the first quarter.

According to Reuters, CFC Bank, which is ranked among the largest banks in the East African economic hub, and controlled by South Africa’s Standard Bank through CFC Holdings, which also runs a financial services firm, first quarter results were propelled by higher income.

The bank posted a pretax profit of Sh813.8 million shillings ($9.53 million), nearly doubled its total interest income to just over Sh3 billion shillings ($35.2 million) for the period but underperformed its rivals in deposits and lending growth.

Interest rates also shot upwards in the final quarter of last year after policymakers raised rates aggressively to fight inflation.

CFC bank also posted a 185 percent jump in other income to just over Sh800 million shillings ($9.4 million).

CfC Stanbic Bank is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) and currently has a market capitalization of  Sh11.7 billion ($129 million) at November 28th, 2011.