Ecobank cements position as Ghana’s biggest bank with Ghs 15.8 billion assets value end-2020

Ghana’s largest bank, Ecobank Ghana, despite the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy and on its activities last year, posted a profit of Ghs 543 million.

The profit recorded for 2020 represented a Ghs 102 million year-on-year profit increment from that of 2019 when the bank posted a profit of Ghs 441 million.

The year-on-year Ghs 102 million profit reflects in dividend payments of Ghs 1.69 pesewas to shareholders as against the Ghs 1.40 pesewas paid in 2019.

 The increase per an examination of the bank’s 2020 Financial Statement, revealed a more than Ghs 300 million and Ghs 263 million increments in Ecobank’s net operating income and revenue.

Net operating income amounted to Ghs 1.3 billion in 2020 from Ghs 1 billion in 2019. The bank’s revenue also increased from Ghs 1.54 billion end-2019 to Ghs 1.80 billion end 2020.

With regards to the bank’s assets, Ecobank Ghana’s total assets at the end of the year 2020, was valued at Ghs 15.8 billion cementing the bank’s position as the biggest bank in the country.

Ecobank for the period under review recorded a Ghs 2.6 billion increase in its assets from the 2019 figure of Ghs 13.1 billion.

Items such as cash and balances with banks as well as non-trading assets, accounted for the increase in the bank’s total assets value.

Cash and balances increased from Ghs 2.7 billion to Ghs 3.8 billion increasing by more than Ghs 1.1 billion. With non-trading assets increasing from Ghs 3.3 billion to Ghs 5.2 billion in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

With respect to total liabilities, Ecobank saw its liabilities increase by a little over Ghs 2 billion.

Increased total liabilities, per the bank’s financial statement, was mainly due to deposits from banks and customers.

Deposits from other banks increased from Ghs 1.1 billion to Ghs 1.4 billion in 2019 and 2020 with deposits from customers also increasing from Ghs 9.7 billion to Ghs 11.3 billion in 2019 to 2020 respectively.

Ecobank at the end of last year, saw its loan asset quality slightly deteriorate as its Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) increased from 5.7 percent in 2019 to 6.2 percent in 2020.

Meaning the bank failed to recover some of its loans made to businesses and households for last year. 

Currently, Ecobank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) is hovering around 19.18 percent which is above the Bank of Ghana’s regulatory 13 percent CAR.