Barclays Bank Record Highest Profits Ever

Barclays Bank Ghana has recorded its highest profits ever describing the 2011 financial year as a water-shed year. This is according to the Managing Director of the bank, Benjamin Dabrah when he broke the news to shareholders and board members yesterday. According to the bank, profits before tax went up by 35 percent from 85 million cedis the previous year to 115 million in 2011. Barclays Bank Ghana also grew its loans and advances to customers by a third and this contributed immensely to the bank�s total balance sheet which is now 1.9 billion cedis. The Managing Director, Benjamin Dabrah was elated about the performance of the bank last year. �What we are proud of is that this growth came from our investment in real sectors of the economy, majorly through loans and advances to our customers, there was 35% in the total advances giving to individuals and cooperate institutions. So contrary to the belief that banks are not lending, we grew our profits in that department up to a third,� he said The total balance sheet hence grew by 16% from 1.6 billion cedis to the current 1.9 billion cedis. Barclays Bank Ghana was last year the largest local lender to COCOBOD and the cocoa industry in general. It managed to give unsecured loans to over 30,000 individuals. Even though the bank�s loans and advances grew by about 40% its interest income shrank which reflects the seeming reducing interest rate environment in the country. Barclays� average base rate including unsecured loans is around 21%.