Ecobank pays GH¢39. 9m to SSNIT as dividend

Ecobank Ghana has paid GH¢39.9 million as dividend for the 2015 financial year to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT). 

This represents about 189 per cent increase over the 2012 dividend  of GH¢13.8 million.

The presentation was made at a brief ceremony held in Accra. The acting Managing Director (MD), of Ecobank Ghana, Mr Morgan Asiedu, who presented the cheque for the amount, gave a firm assurance that resources given to the bank would be effectively put to use.

“I think a relationship must be profitable to the parties involved, so if it is profitable and growing it makes everyone happy. So as a bank we are very proud to pay this dividend today,” he said.

Financial performance 

Ecobank Ghana posted a fairly balanced financial results in 2015 with the modest three per cent growth ahead of its peers in the banking industry.

It recorded significant gains in other areas of operations in the midst of a challenging microeconomic environment that affected its fortunes.

The bank posted a profit before tax of GH¢458.6 million for 2015 compared with the GH¢446.9 million. The gains were driven mostly by a 15 per cent and 14 per cent improvement in net loans and deposits respectively.

Total assets of the bank now stand at GH¢6.6 billion, which further strengthens its position as the biggest bank in the country.

Gratitude

Receiving the cheque, the Director General of SSNIT, Mr Ernest Thompson, expressed the Trust’s gratitude to the bank for the dividend paid to SSNIT over the years.

“As a shareholder, we wish we were getting more than GH¢ 39.9 million but in the financial world this is a process not an event, and therefore as far as the company we have invested in is performing well and you are receiving higher and higher dividends, we only hope for the best,” he said.

According to him, the trust was very excited about the way Ecobank Ghana was being run and said shares in Ecobank Ghana were the best investment SSNIT had ever made as far as the financial sector was concerned.

He said the bank would continue to strengthen its relationship with Ecobank Transnational Incorporated in order to grow the two institutions and the financial industry.

Background 

It will be recalled that SSNIT, which was the largest shareholder of the defunct The Trust Bank (TTB), transferred its 61 per cent stake to Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of Ecobank Ghana, through a share swap deal.

ETI subsequently offloaded the acquired shares to its local subsidiary, Ecobank Ghana, with the aim of building the biggest local bank in the country, capable of underwriting big ticket transactions in all sectors of the Ghanaian economy.

The very final leg of the merger, systems and operations integration was consummated on June 1, 2012, and by the close of the year, Ecobank became the biggest bank in Ghana, judging by all the key measures of size.