By Dipo Olowookere
In the third quarter of 2022, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) improved its gross earnings by 11 per cent to N761.3 billion from N686.8 billion in the same period of last year, with interest income growing by 9 per cent to N485.8 billion from N445.1 billion, and interest expense surging by 8 per cent to N174.2 billion from N160.7 billion.
In the period under consideration, fee and commission income expanded by 15 per cent to N165.5 billion from N144.0 billion, driven by higher cash management and related fees, as well as more card management fees, which offset the shortfall in other fees and portfolio and other management fees.
Business Post reports that bank charges, brokerage fees paid, and other fees paid by the lender triggered a 41 per cent increase in the fee and commission expense by Ecobank in the first nine months of this year to N21.0 billion from N14.9 billion.
The trading income generated by the bank grew to N93.2 billion in Q3 of 2022 from N85.5 billion in Q2 of 2021, other operating income rose to N16.7 billion from N11.6 billion, but the net investment income declined to N4.4 billion from N5.6 billion.
In the first nine months of 2022, Ecobank improved its non-interest income by 12 per cent to N258.7 billion from N231.7 billion, while operating income jumped by 11 per cent to N570.4 billion from N516.2 billion.
In the period under consideration, the operating costs of the company increased by 7 per cent to N320.9 billion from N300.7 billion, with personnel costs rising to N138.6 billion from N132.4 billion.
The bank, in the financial statements filed to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, said its pre-tax profit improved by 17 per cent to N168.7 billion from N143.7 billion, while the post-tax profit gained 12 per cent to N1177.4 billion from N104.5 billion.
On a year-to-date basis, its loans disbursement to customers was marginally down to N4.03 trillion from N4.06 trillion in FY 2021, while deposits from customers went down to N8.06 trillion from N8.36 trillion.
