ECOBANK GHANA HOLDS AGM (Business Page)

4/23/10
Story: Mary Mensah
ECOBANK Ghana Limited has posted a 67 per cent growth in its profit before tax, which increased from GH¢ 44 million in 2008 to GH¢ 72.68 million for last year.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, Mr Tei Mensah Mante said the sterling performance of the bank amidst stiff competition also let to growth in profit after tax which increased from GH¢ 34 million to GH¢ 597 million within the period under review.
“This performance was driven by growth in our income streams. Interest income increased by 81 per cent from GH¢ 68.7 million to GH¢ 131.4 million,” Mr Mante said.
He added that fees and commissions also grow by 112 per cent from GH¢ 288 million to GH¢ 448.2 million, although operating cost also shot up by 35 per cent.
According to the chairman total assets of the bank also appreciated by 51 per cent from GH¢ 19.7 million in 2008 to Gh¢1.38 billion last year, a phenomenon which Mr Mante was an indication of the banks “strength and capability to remain competitive in the industry.”
He said given these results the board has proposed a dividend of 18 Ghana pesewa per share an increase from 16 Ghana Pesewa per share and this 13 per cent increase for shareholders is in addition to the bonus issue that occurred in the year.
He said globally though the worst of the credit crisis appears to be behind and real recovery has been sluggish in spite of the wide ranging public stimuli programs in all the major economies and unemployment in particularly remains a very challenging problem for all.
He said in view of this the central banks of most developed economies are still pursuing low interest rate policies and LIBOR rates are below 1 per cent adding that the central banks of emerging and developing economies are also cutting rates aggressively.
Mr Mante indicated that the bank has consistently remained amongst the highest performers in the return on equity in the financial industry demonstrating the viability of the bank as a premier destination for investor funds.
The Managing Director of the Bank, Mr Samuel Ashitey Adjei said the local economy remained downbeat with tightly controlled public spending and the management of fiscal policy produced an improvement of most indices over 2008.
He said eventhough commodity prices made good gains in 2009, except for the first quarter of the year inflation has been on the decline during 2009 ending the year just below 16 per cent, the lowest level since May 2008.
Mr Adjei said the real GDP growth rate of 4.5 per cent though modest was to be expected considering that global demand was yet to return to normal levels and that the current GDP was sustained mainly by domestic demand.
He said the risk management strategy of the bank is to build a well diversified and well managed risk portfolio in defined target markets to generate high return on capital adding that Ecobank’s preparation towards full compliance with the Basel II framework for risk management are also far advanced.
He said the bank is more accessible now with nine new branches added in 2009 including the first branch in the Volta region at Aflao and this brings the total branch network to 52 branches countrywide.
“The banking industry will remain increasingly competitive and we believe that market penetration will increase but with strong leverage on our continental network and representative offices in key destinations of commerce, we are confident of outperforming our competition,” he said.
The Managing Director noted that Ecobank remains a leading bank in Ghana with a penchant for innovation and excellent customer service and look forward for a brighter future with their shareholders and other stakeholders to build a solid bank delivering great returns on investments.