Ecobank Transnational Incorporated has reported profit before tax of $540 million in its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Also, the company proposed dividend of $28 million, represent $0.11 cents ($0.0011) per share, which is subject to shareholder approval at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Speaking on the performance, CEO of Ecobank Group, Jeremy Awori 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.”
He explained that, “we grew profit before tax by 13 per cent to $540 million, 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 added that, “we are working on creating a strategic roadmap that will drive growth, transformation and returns. In addition to our core corporate and investment banking business, we are seeing exciting opportunities for accelerating growth in our payments, consumer and commercial businesses as these represent fast-growing revenue pools in many of our markets.”
He pointed out that, “our focus will be on execution, and we will have a performance, sales and service culture to drive success. Success for us will mean winning with the customer. So, we will reinvigorate our customers’ experience with Ecobank through investments in building a solid and enduring brand that offers them a more personal, relevant and rewarding experience than ever before. This will also deliver further solid financial performance for the Bank.”
