Standard Bank Group, Africa's largest lender by assets, reported a 2% fall in first-half profit after revenue from a joint venture with China's largest lender nearly halved.

Standard Bank share price

Net profit fell to R21.5 billion in the six months ended June 30, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Thursday, in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

Core earnings at ICBC Standard Bank, the lender's joint venture with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, fell 48%, overshadowing gains in the bank's African businesses, including double-digit revenue growth at its South African franchise. Shares rose 1.8% at the open in Johannesburg.

Read: Standard Bank is a 'small cap'

The bank's operations in African countries showed a 35% increase in so-called total profit, with Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia among the eight countries that made the biggest contributions.

The lender is grappling with high interest rates across all its markets, with weak consumer and business confidence putting pressure on customers in its home market of South Africa.

Standard Bank plans to finance growth opportunities in its portfolio of businesses to fuel its business expansion in the rest of Africa.

These include “increasing investment in our subsidiaries in Angola and Nigeria, funding to support growth opportunities in Southern Africa and the East African region and, more broadly, to capture a major share of client opportunities related to Africa’s transition to fair energy,” Standard Bank Chief Executive Sim Tshabalala said in an email.

Standard Bank proposed an interim dividend of R7.44 per share, up 8% from a year earlier.

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