- Access Bank Ghana Grows Loan Book By 53% as Nine-Month Profit Falls
Access Bank Ghana expanded lending by 53 per cent during the nine months to September 2026, signalling a decisive shift towards financing customers even as weaker trading and fee income pushed profitability below the level recorded a year earlier.
The bank’s unaudited financial statements show loans and advances rising 53 per cent year on year to GH¢5.50 billion from GH¢3.59 billion. That GH¢1.90 billion increase was the most striking movement on its balance sheet and substantially exceeded the 5.7 per cent growth in total assets to GH¢20.51 billion.
For Ghana’s economy, the expansion is significant. Banks are frequently criticised for preferring government securities to private-sector credit, particularly when treasury instruments offer attractive returns with limited credit risk. Access Bank’s figures point towards a different allocation: a larger share of its resources is moving into customer loans, where capital can support business activity, household investment and employment.
The shift, however, came with a weaker earnings picture. Profit after tax declined 17.1 per cent to GH¢367.09 million from GH¢442.65 million, while profit before tax fell at the same rate to GH¢564.75 million. Basic and diluted earnings per share consequently dropped to GH¢2.11 from GH¢2.54.
The central question is whether the loan expansion will generate durable interest income without producing a proportionate rise in defaults. That trade-off will determine whether 2026 represents temporary earnings pressure during a strategic repositioning or the beginning of a more difficult credit cycle.
There are encouraging signs in the income statement. Interest income fell 20.1 per cent to GH¢927.08 million, but interest expense declined much faster, dropping 42 per cent to GH¢419.03 million. The sharper reduction in funding costs lifted net interest income by 16.1 per cent to GH¢508.05 million.
This suggests that the bank protected its core lending margin despite earning less gross interest. Customer deposits increased 8.6 per cent to GH¢15.23 billion, providing a larger funding base, while borrowings declined 29.7 per cent to GH¢643.51 million. Replacing expensive wholesale borrowing with deposits can improve funding efficiency and reduce refinancing exposure.
Deposits from banks, however, more than doubled to GH¢1.14 billion from GH¢530.33 million. The movement deserves attention because it indicates that part of the balance-sheet expansion was supported by institutional funding rather than customer deposits alone.
The strain appeared outside traditional interest income. Net fees and commissions declined 14.7 per cent to GH¢349.87 million, while net trading income fell 38.5 per cent to GH¢204.46 million. Other operating income also decreased to GH¢47.78 million from GH¢63.84 million.
Together, these movements reduced total operating income by 10.5 per cent to GH¢1.10 billion, despite the improvement in net interest income. They illustrate how changing market conditions can affect banks whose recent profits have benefited from foreign-exchange activity and securities trading. As those opportunities moderate, the quality and scale of ordinary banking become more important.
Costs provided little offset. Personnel expenses rose 2.5 per cent to GH¢243.16 million, while other operating expenses edged up to GH¢226.62 million. Depreciation and amortisation fell to GH¢61.65 million from GH¢82.67 million, leaving aggregate operating costs broadly stable.
With revenue declining and costs proving relatively sticky, a simple cost-to-income measure derived from disclosed operating expenses increased to about 48.5 per cent from 44.4 per cent. This is not the bank’s officially reported ratio, but it highlights the operating leverage challenge: when income contracts, even controlled expenses consume a greater share of revenue.
Credit quality remains the risk in the rapidly expanding loan book. The non-performing-loan ratio increased to 4.51 per cent from 3.94 per cent. Although still relatively contained, the direction matters because loan growth can initially make asset-quality ratios appear stronger by enlarging the denominator before newer facilities have seasoned sufficiently to reveal repayment difficulties.
Encouragingly, net impairment losses declined to GH¢13.97 million from GH¢18.82 million. Yet investors will need more than one reporting period to determine whether provisioning adequately reflects the risks embedded in the additional GH¢1.90 billion of customer credit.
The loan-to-deposit ratio rose to approximately 36.1 per cent from 25.6 per cent, confirming that Access Bank deployed a greater proportion of deposits into lending. The ratio still leaves considerable liquidity space, but the bank’s disclosed liquid ratio declined to 69.62 per cent from 78.10 per cent. That movement is consistent with a balance sheet becoming more productive, but also less liquid.
Cash and cash equivalents nevertheless increased 17.9 per cent to GH¢5.01 billion, while investment securities grew 13.3 per cent to GH¢7.03 billion. Non-pledged trading assets fell sharply to GH¢695.53 million from GH¢1.85 billion, reinforcing the picture of a portfolio being repositioned rather than indiscriminately expanded.
Operating cash flow strengthened markedly to GH¢1.27 billion from GH¢550.81 million. This improvement provides reassurance that the bank’s operations generated cash even as reported profit declined. It was supported by deposit inflows and changes in other liabilities, although the loan expansion absorbed GH¢438.73 million of cash during the period.
Capital remains adequate but warrants monitoring. Total equity grew 12.8 per cent to GH¢2.41 billion, supported by retained earnings of GH¢1.49 billion. The capital adequacy ratio, however, eased to 16.35 per cent from 16.87 per cent, likely reflecting the balance-sheet migration towards assets carrying greater regulatory risk weights. The bank reported no statutory liquidity default or regulatory penalty.
Access Bank’s September results therefore tell two stories. The first is an earnings slowdown caused by weaker non-interest revenue and higher relative operating costs. The second is a substantial commitment to customer credit, funded through a larger deposit base and reduced borrowings.
The second story may prove more important. A bank that lends more into the productive economy can deepen financial intermediation and build recurring income. But rapid credit growth is valuable only when underwriting, monitoring and recoveries keep pace.
For shareholders, the next reporting periods will reveal whether expanding loans can restore revenue momentum and reverse the decline in earnings per share. For Ghana, the wider test is whether the new credit finances productive activity rather than merely enlarging bank balance sheets. Access Bank has made the allocation; the quality of that allocation will determine the return.
