Zenith Bank posts strong results last year
Deposits from customers of Zenith Bank Ghana Ltd, increased significantly from GH¢8.4 billion in 2022 to a whopping GH¢11.7 billion last year.
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It also managed to increase its total assets from GH¢9.7 billion to GH¢13.9 billion in 2023. Total liabilities mostly driven by strong deposits from customers also
shot up to GH¢12.2 billion in 2023 from GH¢8.7 billion the previous year.
The development brings the bank’s net worth to GH¢1.7 billion, up from just GH¢0.98 billion in 2022 when banks in the country faced difficult times mostly as a result of the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) which impaired the balance sheets of many banks in the country.
The bank’s stated capital, simply put, the amount of money held by a bank to provide protection to creditors by ensuring that a certain amount of capital remains in its volt, remained the same at GH¢400 million.
Operating income, which is the adjusted revenue after all expenses of operation and depreciation are subtracted shot up to GH¢1.6 billion from just GH¢1.04 billion in 2022.
Loans and advances to customers increased from GH¢1.9 billion to GH¢2.2 billion in the year under review while net impairment loss on financial assets went down drastically to GH¢109.3 million from as high as GH¢1.2 billion in 2023.
Profit
Zenith Bank recovered strongly from a loss position in 2022 to profit ways in the 2023 financial year.
The bank, posted a profit after tax of GH¢676.1 million in the year under review as compared to a loss of GH¢419.8 million the previous year.
Risk management
By way of risk, the financial statement of the bank published in the dailies last month, admitted that the bank’s activities exposed the business to certain risks such as credit risk, liquidity risk, market risk and operational risk.
However it said, these risks are managed professionally and in a targeted manner.
“The bank’s risk management policies are established to identify and analyse risks faced by the bank, set risks limits and controls as well as monitor these risks and adherence to established policies,” it said.
It further noted that risk management policies and systems are reviewed regularly to reflect changes in market conditions, products and services offered by the bank.
Banking sector overview
According to the Bank of Ghana in its March Monetary Policy Committee report, the banking sector’s performance rebounded after the implementation of the DDEP.
For instance, in the first two months of 2024, the total assets of the banks increased by 21.0%, while total deposits and advances also went up by 25.5 per cent and 1.8% respectively.
But like many analysts have pointed out, trends in key financial soundness indicators were however mixed.
For instance, the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), adjusted for reliefs was 13.6% in February 2024, above the regulatory minimum threshold of 13.0%, compared with 12.6%in February 2023.
CAR measures how much capital a bank has available, reported as a percentage of a bank's risk-weighted credit exposures. The purpose is to establish that banks have enough capital on reserve to handle a certain amount of losses, before being at risk for becoming insolvent.
With this development, the banks are more likely to withstand a financial downturn or other unforeseen losses as happened when the government implemented the DDEP which severely impaired their balance sheets with the majority of them recording heavy losses in 2022.
Liquidity and profitability ratios also improved compared to a year earlier.
The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio, which is calculated by dividing the number of non-performing loans by the total number of loans in the sector, on the other hand, increased to 24.6%, reflecting the downgrading of several large exposures to the banks.
NPLs, excluding the loss category, however, remained in single digits at 9.8%.
Meanwhile, the report said, “Banks impacted by the DDEP in 2023 continue to implement their approved capital restoration plans in line with BoG’s requirements.
“The Bank of Ghana expects that early completion of recapitalisation efforts will lead to more resilience of the banking sector and position it to provide stronger support for real sector recovery.”
