A Risk-Based Assessment of Ecobank Ghana Limited

Abstract

The global financial crises over the past three years should make everyone concerned about recent significant levels of bad debts on the books of banks in the Ghanaian financial sector. It calls for thorough assessments of the structure and components of the risk management frameworks and practices of banks by regulators, analysts and financial watchers from time to time, to ascertain the adequacy of the systems, policies and procedures for managing risks as well as their conformity to current best practices. As a contribution to this exercise, this study is focused on Ecobank Ghana Limited (EGH) with the aim of evaluating the bank’s risk profile as well as assessing its risk management framework to ascertain its soundness and conformity to international best practices. Both the computational based and analytical based approaches were adopted in assessing the risk condition of EGH. By applying analytical tools such as ratios and tables to the bank’s 2012 financial statements, and those of years 2010 and 2011 serving as references for comparison. Trends and relationships in the financial statements and other financial data were also established. This helped in making well-reasoned analysis of the bank’s capital adequacy, balance sheet structure and composition, profitability and reliability of earnings, credit exposure size and quality, liquidity, interest rate and currency risks situations. A review of the EGH’s risk management structure and policies, vis-à-vis recommendations by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, helped in establishing the soundness or otherwise of the bank’s risk management practices. The study revealed that EGH’s has a good risk profile in the face of challenging global economic and business environment.

Keywords: Risk, Ecobank Ghana Limited, Basel Committee, Volatile Liabilities, Interest Rate