Ecobank Ghana to pay GH¢177m dividend to shareholders

Shareholders of Ecobank Ghana will receive an amount of 55 pesewas per share as dividend from the bank with respect to the 2020 financial year

This is a 100% increase over that of the 2019 dividend payment. It follows approval by the Bank of Ghana for the increment and payment.

Speaking to shareholders of the bank at a virtual Annual General meeting in Accra, Managing Director of Ecobank, Daniel Sackey explained that the regulator has approved the payment which is a total amount of GH¢177 million due to improvement in the financial soundness indicators of the bank, including reductions in its Non-Performing Loans.

“I can confirm that the regulator has approved the increment in our dividends payment taking into consideration factors like the non-performing loans, growth in capital adequacy for the next two to three years”

In responding to a question by some shareholders on the Bank of Ghana’s freeze in dividend payment, Dan Sackey answered “the bank has been able to satisfy the regulator (Bank of Ghana) by meeting the basic requirements as a bank and that is why we got the approval for an increment”

Commenting on the cost of operations, the MD disclosed that about 32 branches of Ecobank are presently operating on solar energy and hope more branches will be included by the end of the year.

Ecobank Ghana in 2020 emerged the most profitable bank with a profit of GH¢584 million.

Customer deposits grew by 21%, from GH¢9.7 billion in 2019 to GH¢11.8 billion in 2020.

It ended 2020 with a Capital Adequacy Ratio of 19.5%, a rate above the minimum regulatory requirement of 13%.

However, the bank recorded a contraction in its loan book by 7%, attributed to the reduction in economic activities due to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.