GCB registers 4.39% growth in profit in 2020 despite coronavirus impact

The Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB Bank) has recorded modest growth in its earnings for last year 2020 by a profit margin of 4.39%.

According to its 2021 Audited Financial Statement for last year, GCB recorded a significant loan loss of GH¢219 million last year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, which compelled the bank to restructure some loans within the cause of the trading year.

That impacted its total income despite recording significant growth in all its income lines by some GH¢439 million.

The net interest income also grew by 22% year-on-year to GH¢1.4 billion, whilst trading income also shot up by 17.5% year-on-year to GH¢166 million.

The balance sheet continued to remain strong as its size grew to GH¢29 billion in 2020 compared to a little above GH¢22 billion the previous year.

Shareholders will however enjoy some GH¢1.66 pesewas earnings per share, higher than the one received in 2019.

However, non-performing loans went up by 2.7% to 8.71% but was still below the industry average of about 15.5%.

Capital Adequacy Ratio measurement of a bank’s Risk Weighted Assets was also way above the industry average, at 20.7%.

Meanwhile, GCB Bank’s profit before tax for 2019 was GH¢317.13 million for the nine months ending September 30, 2019.

This is an improvement over the GH¢224.99 million recorded over the same period in 2018 financial year and represents 40.9% increase.

During the period, total revenue amounted to GH¢1.13 billion, up 25.1% compared to GH¢ 903.23 million generated over the same period in 2018. The revenue performance was driven by strong growth in earning assets and non-funded income.

As a result of the growth in earning assets, the Bank’s net interest income increased to GH¢843.31 million from GH¢671.62 million, representing a growth of 25.6%.

The net fee and commission income of the Bank soared from GH¢150.65 million in 2018 to GH¢165.45 million in 2019. Trading income out performed prior period by 72.7% to settle at GH¢ 114.11 million.

The Bank’s total asset base increased from GH¢10.38 billion to GH¢11.27 billion, up 8.6% largely underpinned by customer deposits.

Customer deposit stood at GH¢ 8.79 billion, up 19.6% relative to GH¢7.35 billion for the same period in 2018.

The Bank remained solid, with strong liquidity and capital adequacy above the minimum regulatory limits.