Interest incomes, commissions spur Ecobank’s growth

Ecobank Ghana has emerged as one of the most profitable banks in the country growing its total revenue by 10 per cent to GHc2 billion and a profit before tax of GHc 894 million, representing a growth of 14 per cent.

The growth in total revenue was driven mainly by a 13 per cent increase in net interest income to GHc 1.5 billion and 24 per cent rise in net fees and commissions to GHc 317.6million

This was achieved through increased volumes of earning assets, which was funded by the bank’s strong deposit growth of 12 per cent to GHc13.2 billion, which was the highest in the banking industry for 2021.

Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Mr Daniel Sackey said on the sidelines of the bank’s virtual Annual General Meeting in Accra that the bank has maintained a robust risk management posture to ensure that it improves its asset quality matrices.

“All these, coupled with a robust risk management structure, which is designed to ensure a reduction in non-performing loans, are the key factors for our success”, Mr Sackey said.

The bank’s growth was boosted by a strong total asset growth of 12 per cent to GHc 17.93 billion, with owners’ equity rising by 10 per cent to GHc 2.7billion last year.

Ecobank Ghana ended 2021 with the largest loan book of GHc 5.7 billion, representing 14 per cent.

Positive trends

The Managing Director said, the bank’s first quarter performance for 2022 has been encouraging and expects the growth trend to remain positive but mindful of the headwinds due to the current inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions.

“We are aware of the measures being implemented by the government to deal with the increasing inflationary pressures and its adverse impact on the macroeconomic environment”, he said.

“While we are optimistic of a recovery in the medium-to-long term, in the near term we are committed to working with our clients to support them to navigate this difficult period”, Mr Sackey added.

Investment in technology

He said the bank in 2021, invested heavily in technology and made significant upgrades to two critical platforms - Ecobank Online and Omnilite, to provide better user-experience for its customers.

“We have also upgraded and repositioned our Contact Centre into a multilingual and multicultural customer engagement centre that responds to and serves our customers around the clock seven days in a week”, he said.

The combined effect of the investment has resulted in a number of digital transactions growing by 36 per cent against a seven growth in-branch transactions in 2021.