Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has released its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2025. The scorecard shows that profit after tax (PAT) attributable to shareholders of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated increased by $74 million, or 22 percent (+14 percent in constant currency), to $407 million in 2025. This feat was driven by solid revenue growth in each of the bank’s business lines and prudent cost controls, partially offset by an increase in impairment charges.
Also, profit before tax (PBT) increased by $139 million, or 21 percent (+15 percent in constant currency), to $801 million in 2025. In the Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) business, profit before tax rose by $199 million to $697 million (not adjusted for consolidation), driven by profit growth across all geographical regions, except for Nigeria, where higher impairment charges resulted in a pre-tax loss.
Nigeria reported a pre-tax loss of $31 million in 2025 compared to a profit before tax of $5 million in 2024. The loss was mainly attributed to a rise in non-performing loans (NPLs) within Nigeria’s CIB business, particularly in the oil and gas industry, following the end of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s forbearance regime.
Additionally, the group’s profit before tax in the Consumer and Commercial Banking (CCB) business increased by $101 million to $480 million, with profits for the Consumer banking sub-segment up 29 percent and that for the Commercial banking sub-segment, up 25 percent.
Net revenue increased by $363 million, or 17 percent (+12 percent in constant currency), to $2,449 million in 2025. CIB net revenues rose by $255 million to $1.305 billion, strongly driven by treasury management, client-driven foreign currency and fixed income sales, and cash management fees.
In CCB, net revenues increased by $157 million to $1.224 billion, with the Consumer banking segment revenues growing by $62 million to $566 million, supported by deepening customer engagements, increased lending activity, higher card and deposit-related fees from rising transaction volumes, and the Commercial banking segment growing by $95 million, underpinned by strong customer deposit growth, trading activity, payments, and lending to Small, Medium-Enterprises (SME).
Net interest income, NII, increased by $237 million, or 20percent (+14 percent in constant currency) to $1,411 million in 2025. The increase was driven by a $247 million increase in interest income, partially offset by an $11 million increase in interest expense.
The increase in interest income was attributed to higher holdings of government bonds, especially in the UEMOA region; growth in trade loans—particularly in soft commodities; and an uptick in digitally enabled consumer loans in the Anglophone West Africa (AWA) region.
The average gross yield on interest-earning assets decreased to 8.7percent from 9.2percent in 2024, largely due to a cycle of monetary easing by central banks across most of the group’s markets. The relatively modest increase in interest expenses is due to a successful strategy of shifting the deposit mix towards low-cost CASA deposits, which led to a decrease in the average interest rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities to 2.5 percent from 2.9 percent in 2024. CASA deposits as a percentage of total customer deposits rose to 87.1 percent in 2025 from 86.4 percent in 2024.
Non-interest revenues, NIR, increased by $126 million, or 14percent (+9 percent in constant currency), to $1.038 billion in 2025. Net fees and commissions income increased by $74 million to $598 million, underpinned by a rise in income from cash management services, credit-related fees, and higher card fees from rising transaction volumes. Additionally, fees derived from net trading income and foreign exchange gains increased by $40 million to $400 million, driven by treasury management actions and enhanced income from foreign currency sales, spurred by strong client engagement and market volatility. Other income also increased by $12 million to $40 million, driven by the net release of ECL reserves on fixed-income securities.
Operating expenses increased by $82 million, or 7 percent (+3percent in constant currency), to $1.184 billion in 2025. Staff costs increased by $67 million to $514 million, driven by increased investment in staff productivity.
Other operating expenses rose by $14 million to $589 million, driven by higher statutory charges, including taxes and insurance, partially offset by lower communication and technology-related costs. The cost-to-income ratio, which shows how efficiently the company operates, improved to a record low of 48.3 percent from 52.8 percent at the same time in year 2024, driven by higher revenue growth compared to operating expenses.
Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group, stated that “Our 2025 performance has further demonstrated that our Growth Transformation and Returns (GTR) strategy, along with our geographically diversified business model, are yielding positive results. Group-wide revenues increased by 17 percent to $2.45 billion, with Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) revenues rising by 21 percent and Consumer and Commercial Banking (CCB) revenues increasing by 14 percent.
“Payment revenue rose 14 percent to $305 million, driven by higher transaction volumes across channels. Group-wide profit before tax rose by 21percent to $801 million, resulting in a return on tangible shareholders’ equity of 27.8 percent. We also increased per-share earnings and tangible book value by 23 percent and 82percent, respectively,” he said.
“In our Consumer Banking business, we broadened access for both new and existing customers by expanding digital account openings in more markets. We installed 500 new ATMs, extended our Direct Sales Agents into 22 markets, and added over 1,000 new personnel. In Commercial Banking, we strengthened our relationships with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in the agribusiness sector, by introducing specialised expertise and enhanced digital tools to serve our clients better and improve access to funding. Within CIB, we secured over 75 major mandates with multinationals, development finance institutions (DFIs), humanitarian agencies, and regional corporations, while $610 million in commodity financing supported robust performance in our Trade business,” Awori said.
According to him, “Customer deposits grew by $4.9 billion to $25.3 billion, and the CASA (Current Account Savings Account) ratio improved to 87.1percent, enabling us to reduce our average funding costs. We became more active in lending, especially in financing trade in soft commodities, increasing support for women-led small businesses through our Ellevate program, and offering digitally enabled consumer loans. As a result, loans increased by $2.3 billion to $12.8 billion. Given our relatively small consumer lending portfolio, there is ample room for growth without taking on disproportionate risks”.
“Our transformation agenda is showing solid results, evidenced by a record cost-to-income ratio of 48.3percent, down from 52.8 percent a year ago, with improvements across various businesses and regions. This cost-to-income ratio was better than our guidance of approximately 53 percent, which is encouraging as we drive efficiencies while simultaneously investing for
growth. We continued to invest in enhancing customer interactions across both physical and digital channels, resulting in a 1,000-basis-point increase in customer satisfaction to 70 percent. Furthermore, we made significant progress in key turnaround subsidiaries in the CESA region, including Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia, where efficiency ratios have improved markedly. However, we made the difficult decision to divest from our Mozambique business because it did not meet our performance and return criteria in a competitive market. In Nigeria, we met the Central Bank’s minimum paid-up capital requirement of NGN200 billion for a national bank,” he said.
“Overall, these achievements would not have been possible without the dedication of approximately 14,000 Ecobank employees across Africa, who have embraced our ongoing transformation and prioritised meeting our customers’ needs. I am proud of their efforts. Additionally, economic conditions in Africa improved, as central banks lowered interest rates amid declining inflation and greater currency stability. As we look ahead to 2026, we remain confident in our ability to execute our GTR strategic initiatives. However, we are fully aware of the potential implications for economic and financial conditions stemming from geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, as well as macroeconomic impacts across Africa and globally. Our focus remains on executing with agility, resilience, and disciplined risk and expense management across all our markets,” Awori noted.
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