Leading local Bank, Access Bank Ghana PLC has seen a significant jump in its profits for the year 2021. The bank which recorded a profit before income tax of almost GHC 360 million in 2020, saw that metric jump up to a little over GHC 500 million in 2021, representing a growth of about 41% in the bank’s profit before income tax.

While its profit before income tax jumped up by about 41% in 2021 when compared to what was recorded in 2020, its profit after tax also saw a significant increase, rising by about 33.5% from the GHC 240.8 million recorded in 2020 to the GHC 321.6 million recorded in 2021.

The performance of the bank can be described as better than the industry in general, which maintained its profitability in 2021 through to the first two months of the year, recording significant increases in both profit-before-tax and profit-after-tax.

Assets

The bank also saw the value of its total assets grow significantly by about 28.7%, from about GHC 5.8 billion in 2020 to about GHC 7.5 billion in 2021. A closer look at the banks’ summary statement of financial position shows the bank’s preference for investment securities, which grew by a whopping 77.4% from about GHC 2 billion in 2020 to about GHC 3.6 billion in 2021.

Loans and advances to customers saw positive growth of about 3.6% in 2021 as compared to the negative growth of about 13 % in 2020. The development is in line with the banking industry’s preference for less risky assets.

The March 2022 Monetary Policy Report of the Bank of Ghana shows that the asset and liability structure of the banking industry during the first 2 months of this year remained tilted towards less risky assets, with investments continuing to dominate the asset mix.

Capital Adequacy Ratio

Access Bank’s ability to handle losses as depicted by its Capital Adequacy Ratio of 35.68%, is very strong and well above the banking industry average of 19.6 % as of February 2022, and also well above the current revised regulatory minimum of 13 %.

Non-performing Loans

Finally, the percentage of its non-performing loans witnessed a significant reduction in 2021 by about 8.6 percentage points from the 18.5% recorded in 2020 to the 9.9% recorded in 2021.