Another record year for Ecobank

For Ecobank 2007 was another record breaking year in terms of performance, as the bank reaches new levels with assets growth of 87% to US$ 6.6 billion. Its revenues increased by 56% to US$ 544 million and pre-tax profit rose by 47% to US$ 191 million.

This  also positioned Ecobank as the leading Pan African banking group with an unparalleled reach and a unique operating platform. Speaking at the bank’s 20th annual general meeting held in Accra, Mandé Sidibé, the Ecobank group chairman, said in spite of the significant investments in growth, the bank was able to maintain their return on equity at 24%. “As a result of the improved performance, we are proposing a dividend of 2.0 cents, an increase of 33% over the previous year and also a stock split to make the price of the shares more accessible to the generality of our African share holders and improve liquidity in the stock.”

Chairman Sidibé added that, his bank continued to be guided by their strategic objective of building share holders value through improvements in efficiency, building scale and growth.

“In addition to significant improvement in our asset base, our customer base topped the 1 million mark for the first time and our branch and offices network increased to 450.

Our cooporate social responsibility programmes are guided by our dual mission not only to build a world class African bank but also to contribute to the economic and financial devlopment of Africa."

Arnold Ekpe, Ecobank group chief executive officer (CEO), also speaking at the AGM said that during the year, the bank extended their market reach beyond western and central Africa to eastern and Southern Africa. “Whilst we continue to grow on our regional presence, we also increased our focus on those markets, customers and products that account for the bulk of our revenue. We took steps to strengthen the front office sales and service delivery platform whilst working to centralise our middle and back office operations to improve efficiency and better manage our cost”.

The CEO added that 5 countries have been added during the year to increase Ecobank’s footprints to 20 countries.  “ The market capitalisation of the group increased from 1.4 billion dollars to 2.1 billion in 2007 after a 1.1 share split and dividend of 7.97 cents. As always, we remian focus on delivering superior value to our shareholders, employees and customers” he concluded.

In an interview with the Daily Observer shortly after the AGM in Accra, Fitzgerald ODONKOR , Ecobank managing director in The Gambia, said the commissioning of the Shared Service  Centre and the AGM of the bank were very significant events “for us as a bank. They are significant because the Shared Service Centre takes us to another level as a bank in improving our efficiency in processing our payment. The Shared Service Centre position us to grow and also to cover Africa as a Pan-African bank”.

Mr ODONKOR added that the AGM was also very significant because 2007 was a very good year for the bank. “The level of the profit of the bank went up significantly. The AGM was an opportunity to inform the shareholders of the expansion plans of the bank, especially the plan to raise 3 billion dollars”.

The Ecobank Gambia branch managing director furher added that the expansion plans would give his branch a unique opportunity to be part of the successful story of the bank. “ We see ourselves not only as a bank but we also have social responsibility.

We are directly related to the economic development of Africa. In The Gambia we are operating from one location but we do have 7 western union stratigic points. Apart from that, we also have plans to open new branches before the end of the year. We have had six months in The Gambia, but we are expecting that within the next six months, the expansion of the branches of the bank will also take shape.

Our new products which we are going to introduce in the market soon will change the landscape of banking in The Gambia. We will make The Gambia a hub for banking activities in the subregion. We want Ecobank to be a household word in The Gambia for efficient, friendly, customer focused and excellent banking”, Mr ODONKOR concluded.

For his part, Omar F M’Bai , the legally minded Ecobank Banjul secretary, who also attended the commissioning of the Shared Service  Centre and the AGM, said it was a blessing that Ecobank opened a branch in The Gambia.

“Ecobank as a group is here to represent the best interest of Africa and Africans; as an affliate, it is here to represent the best interest of its inhabitants. And in The Gambia, it is here to represent the best interest of Gambians, as it is here to stay. Mr M’Bai called on Gambians to bank with Ecobank to make life easy and for the security of their funds. “For Ecobank the sky is the limit. You need not to travel with bags of money. For Ecobank , you just need your regional card” he concluded.