By Mary Onyia
Ecobank has delivered a strong 2025 performance, crossing the N1 trillion profit mark as treasury income rises and begins to close the gap with traditional lending.
With deposits growing faster than loans, the bank is increasingly deploying liquidity into high-yield government instruments, boosting margins and overall earnings.
Gross earnings rose to about N4.88 trillion, up 16% year-on-year, while profit after tax climbed 23% to N904.7 billion.
Beneath the strong numbers, however, asset quality pressures and earnings concentration remain key risks to watch.
At the centre of the earnings story is a gradual shift in income composition. Loans to customers remain the single largest contributor to gross earnings, accounting for roughly a third of total income.
However, income from treasury bills and investment securities has expanded rapidly, narrowing the gap with lending.
Combined, these instruments generated over N1.4 trillion interest income, contributing about 29% to gross earnings, compared to about 33% from loans.
This shift is closely linked to the bank’s balance sheet dynamics. Customer deposits grew by about 15% to N36.4 trillion, outpacing loan growth of about 10%.
With liquidity building, the bank opted to channel excess funds into treasury instruments and securities rather than accelerate credit expansion in a still uncertain macro environment.
It increased its holdings in treasury bills by about 28%, reaching N3.3 trillion, and investment securities by 19% to N12.7 trillion, significantly outpacing loan growth of about 10%.
This approach, alongside low cost of funds and a current and savings account ratio of over 87%, supported margins, as net interest margin improved to 6.2%.
Non-interest revenue also strengthened, supported by higher fees from cash management services, credit-related activities and rising card transactions, alongside increased trading income and foreign exchange gains driven by treasury management actions and strong client demand.
Overall, non-interest income now accounts for over 40 per cent of total revenue, highlighting a more diversified earnings base.
The combined effect of stronger revenue growth and disciplined cost control drove operating income higher, while operating expenses grew at a slower pace.
This divergence pushed the cost-to-income ratio down to a record low of 48.3%, the lowest in 5 years, reflecting improved efficiency under the Group’s transformation strategy.