The Bank of Abyssinia (BoA), one of the first two private banks since the free market was reintroduced in the early 1990s, has continued with several achievements in the sector in addition to surpassing the one million mark in their number of depositors.
In the fiscal year that ended on June 30 BoA amassed a total income of 3.3 million birr which is a growth of 37.8 percent. Expenses grew significantly at 47 percent. Because of the increase of depositors interest took 42 percent of the total expenses.
During the year the bank registered nearly 766 million birr in gross profits before tax. Gross profits increased by 89 million birr which is a 13 percent increase from 201/17. Accordingly profits after tax reached 563 million birr which is a 52 million birr increased compared with the preceding year.
The bank that has 2.56 billion birr paid up capital has registered assets of 31.9 billion birr for the year, which was 25.8 billion birr a year ago, while the capital has also stood at 4.3 billion birr which is a 27 percent increase.
The number of depositors at the bank has dramatically increased. The statement of BoA indicated that in the 2016 /2017 fiscal year the number of depositors stood at 750,000, while it has now increased by 35 percent and reached more than one million.
Besides the growth of the number of customers the bank’s deposit mobilization went up by five billion birr within a single year.
The report indicated that the total deposit mobilization at the end of June reached 26 billion birr that was about 21 billion birr a year ago. The growth of deposit mobilization has placed the bank as one of the most competitive banks and a key factor in the sector.
In terms of advances and loans BoA has facilitated close to 4 billion birr for the fiscal year amounting to a total of 18 billion birr.
Loans and advances grew by 28 percent compared with the preceding year. For the year term loans and over drafts grew by 35 percent. According to BoA’s financial report, the proportion of loans indicated that term loans took the lion’s share by 66 percent and over draft and advances stood at 21.3 and 12 percent respectively. From the total loan’s domestic trade took the highest portion followed by exports, construction and industry.
The year saw a record shortage of hard currency but BoA was to mobilize USD 382 million which is a decline of 10 percent compared with the performance in 2016/17 financial year. Declines were in incoming transfers, money transfers, and interest on corresponding banks but other factors exhibited positive performance, according to the report.
Last fiscal year the bank has opened an additional 53 branches increasing the number of branches to 286. In terms of the modern IT banking sector development the bank has registered marvelous performance in mobile and card banking. The report stated that mobile banking users doubled and the card banking service grew by 83 percent.