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

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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.