Ecobank Grows Earnings by 9% to N843bn in 2019

By Dipo Olowookere

On Monday, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) released its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019, with gross earnings rising by 9 percent to N842.5 billion from N772.6 billion in 2018.

Also, the revenue generated by the financial institution increased to N586.9 billion from N567.4 billion, interest income rose to N510.8 billion from N475.2 billion and the interest expense rising by 29 percent to N239.6 billion from N186.1 billion, leaving the net interest income down by 6 percent to N271.2 billion from N289.0 billion.

Ecobank said it generated N166.4 billion from fee and commission income in the 2019 fiscal year, higher than N157.8 billion in 2018, while the fee and commission expense reduced to N14.6 billion from N19.6 billion.

It further said the net trading income was N138.1 billion against N118.7 billion in 2018, while other operating income was N25.8 billion versus N21.5 billion in 2018, with the non-interest revenue at N315.7 billion, higher than N278.4 billion in the prior year by 13 percent.

The operating income generated by Ecobank in the period under consideration slightly increased by 3 percent to N586.9 billion from N567.4 billion, while the operating expenses increased by 11 percent to n388.3 billion from N349.0 billion.

During the year, staff expenses gulped N117.4 billion in contrast to N159.3 billion the previous year, while other operating expenses took N171.7 billion from the lender’s purse compared with N159.4 billion a year earlier.

According to the results, Ecobank said its profit before tax increased in the 2019 FY by 32 percent to N146.5 billion from N110.8 billion, while the profit after tax appreciated by 28 percent to N89.5 billion from N77.5 billion.

The balance sheet of Ecobank as at the close of business on December 31, 2019 showed that the total assets increased to N8.6 trillion from N8.2 trillion, while the total liabilities jumped to N7.9 trillion from N7.6 trillion.

While its deposits from customers increased to N5.9 trillion from N5.8 trillion, the loans and advances to customers moved to N3.4 trillion from N3.3 trillion.