Absa Bank Ghana, ended the first quarter of this year with a total asset value of Ghs 13.2 billion.
The recorded assets value for end-March 2021, represents a year-on-year increment of Ghs 1.8 billion from the end-March 2020 figure of Ghs 11.3 billion.
Growth in Absa Bank’s assets value was on the account of increment in cash and cash equivalent, investment securities and loans to customers.
The aforementioned components of the bank’s assets value rose from Ghs 1.3 billion to Ghs 1.8 billion, Ghs 2 billion to Ghs 2.5 billion, and Ghs 203 million to Ghs 335 million in Q1 2020 and Q1 2021 respectively.
With respect to total liabilities, the bank witnessed a Ghs 1.4 billion rise for the period between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021.
The bank’s liabilities were mainly driven by deposits from customers and ‘other liabilities.’
Deposits from customers grew from Ghs 5.1 billion in Q1 2020 to Ghs 6.8 billion in Q1 2021. Other liabilities, according to the bank’s unaudited Q1 2021 Financial Statement, expanded from Ghs 522 million to Ghs 892 million.
Recorded total liabilities of Absa Bank for Q1 2021 would have been higher had it not reduced its borrowings from Ghs 3.5 billion in the first quarter of last year to Ghs 2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year.
Profit posted for the period under review, was Ghs 195 million.
Compared to the profit recorded for same period last year, this represents an increase of Ghs 64.9 million on a year-on-year basis.
Growth in the year-on-year profit was on the account of increment in the bank’s net interest and trading income.
Net interest and trading income expanded from Ghs 218 million to Ghs 264 million and Ghs 73 million to Ghs 91 million in Q1 2020 to Q1 2021 respectively.
Loan asset quality of Absa Bank, for the period under review retrogressed from 6.71 percent in Q1 2020 to 8.36 percent in Q1 2021.
This implies that the bank’s Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) as a ratio of gross loans increased for the period under review as the bank recorded more bad debts.
The bank however, did well by increasing its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) by 3.52 percentage points on a year-on-year basis from 21.86 percent in Q1 2020 to 25.35 percent in Q1 2021.
