The Ecobank Group grew its profit before tax by 13 per cent to $540m in the 2022 financial year.
This was disclosed in its audited results for the year ending December 31, 2022, which was released on Thursday.
According to the bank, the PBT growth was supported by the benefits of its diversified business model. Within the period under review, the solid profit growth in Commercial Banking up 100 per cent to $134m and Consumer Banking, up 50 per cent to $130m, was partially offset by a decrease of 17 per cent to $333m in Corporate and Investment Banking PBT, mainly due to impairment charges associated with Government of Ghana’s debt restructuring exercise.
The pan-African banking institution also reported net revenues of $1.9bn in the period under review.
As part of its commitment to shareholders, the bank also announced a proposed final dividend payout of $28m or 0.11 US cents per share subject to shareholder approval at its next AGM.
Speaking about the result in a statement accompanying the financial results, the Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank, Jeremy Awori, said that Ghana’s debt restructuring exercise placed the company in a difficult position during the financial year.
He said, “Ecobank’s strong 2022 performance reflects the strength of our diversified business model, growth momentum and efficiency, and was achieved despite operating in a challenging macroeconomic environment, which also included the difficulties that Ghana’s debt restructuring exercise placed on us.
“We grew profit before tax by 13 per cent to $540m, translating into earnings per share growth of 10 per cent and delivering a record return on shareholders’ equity of 21.1 per cent With stubborn inflationary pressures in 2022, improving our cost-to-income ratio to 56.4 per cent demonstrates our discipline around cost management.
Moreover, we further reduced the amount of non-performing loans to 5.2 per cent, reflecting our continued progress in improving credit quality. Our balance sheet is well capitalised, with a total capital adequacy ratio of 14.4 per cent above the regulatory minimum.”
Awori, a Kenyan, started as the Group CEO of Ecobank earlier this month.
According to the bank, the gross impairment charges on loans and advances were $270 million for 2022 compared with $374 million in 2021, reflecting a decrease in non-performing loans. The net impairment charges on loans and advances were also lower in 2022 at $10m compared to $170 million in 2021.
Meanwhile, the bank said that hyperinflation in Zimbabwe and South Sudan resulted in a $34m net monetary loss.
Its payment revenues grew $25m or 12 per cent to $234m (representing 13 per cent of the Group net revenues), driven by merchant acquiring, cards, and wholesale payment and its total assets increased by $1.4bn to $29.0bn, primarily driven by growth in loans and investment securities driven by customer deposits growth.