ECOBANK GHANA earned a record total revenue of GH¢1.58 billion and profit before tax of GH¢642.4 million, marking a growth of 21% and 27% respectively over the prior year’s figures.
Operation expenses growth were well controlled within inflationary levels with a resultant reduction in cost-to-income ratio from 51.5% in 2018 to 45.8% in 2019.
These were made known at its fifteenth annual general meeting held recently.
Ecobank also posted strong performance on all key balance sheet items, providing its shareholders with a return on equity of 25%.
The bank continues to be well capitalized with a total equity of GH¢1.78 billion, one of the highest in the industry and a capital adequacy ratio of 18.58%, well above the regulatory requirement of 13%.
Ecobank Ghana’s credit rating has been affirmed by the Global Credit Rating Company at AA-(GH) and A1+(GH) in the long-term and short-term respectively with a stable outlook.
The current ratings reflect the bank’s established domestic franchise value, resilient financial performance, risk appropriate capitalization and adequate loan loss reserve. Given the bank’s stellar performance, the board proposed a dividend payout of 30 pesewas per share, which was unanimously approved by shareholders.
Speaking at the AGM, Terence Darko, Board Chairman of Ecobank, informed shareholders about the bank’s successful accreditation to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) which made Ecobank the first bank in Ghana and the first commercial bank in sub-Saharan Africa to be thus accredited.
He announced that Patience Akyianu, who was appointed to the board in the course of the year under review, had her appointment ratified at the AGM while Martin Eson-Benjamin and Rosemary Yeboah both retired from the board.
Managing Director of the bank, Daniel Sackey said, “In 2019, we demonstrated our ability to navigate the difficulties associated with an increasingly complex environment, after a challenging period in the banking sector. We drove growth by deepening relationships with our existing customers, while attracting new ones. We leveraged our scale and technology to make it easier for our clients to bank seamlessly with us, using their preferred digital channels. We also utilized our growing partnership propositions with key actors in the retail sector to launch our first consumer digital lending scheme called Express Loans. This enabled our customers to borrow from the Bank using their mobile phones. In the seven months of the product launch, we have advanced loans to over a million customers.”
A business desk report