GIB Posts Impressive Results In 2010

The Ghana International Bank recorded an impressive 23.5 per cent profit growth in 2010 compared to 2009, despite the global economic recession and the global financial sector crisis that prevailed during the period under review.

A press release by the London-based Pan African focussed Ghana International Bank disclosed this at the end of its annual general meeting in Accra yesterday.

Profit before tax grew from GB£8.7 million in 2009 to GB£10.8m in 2010, representing a 23.5 per cent increase year on year.

Pre-tax return on assets also increased from 1.6 per cent to 1.8 per cent with return on equity growing from 18.7 per cent to 21 per cent.

Cost to income ratio improved from 45 per cent to 39 per cent, while total assets also increased from £483m to £538m.

Commenting on the results, Chairman of the bank, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, commended the management for achieving an outstanding result in one of the most competitive markets in the world, once again.

He said the year-end result achieved in the turbulent financial environment was a clear vindication of the new strategic direction to reposition the bank as a true Pan-African bank. He also announced that as a mark of the confidence the shareholders had in the bank, they had decided to increase the bank's capital from £51m to £100m through a rights issue and was confident that the bank was poised to take off into the bigger league.

He emphasised that in addition to providing correspondent and corporate finance products and services to its target client base across Africa, another important role of the bank is to provide accessible banking services to the Ghanaian community in the Diaspora, as well as facilitate the transfer of savings back to Ghana.

He noted that a key milestone achieved during the year was the launch of the Ghana International Bank Master Card Debit Card which allows holders to access both cash and products worldwide on a 24/7 basis.

The Chief Executive Officer, Mr J.R. Mensah, attributed the performance mainly to the strategic focus on African assets which are well-structured and priced and less affected by the global financial crisis.

He added that with the increased firepower generated by the additional equity, the bank had adequate scale and was ready to step up to the next level to fulfil its long-term strategy of becoming the premier Pan-African Corporate and Correspondent Banking Services provider of choice.