International Commercial Bank (ICB) did well to weather the storm and sustain growth during this period. Although net profit growth fell by 7.45%, the bank still managed to grow its asset base by 34% and its Tier 1 capital by 30% in 2007. ICB’s growth was sustained by strong performances from its public sector business, structured commodity financing, developmental projects, export financing and foreign exchange inflows.
The bank’s income from loans grew by an impressive 135% in 2007 and fee-based income also saw healthy growth of 22%. During 2007, ICB’s loan portfolio surged by 157%, taking the bank’s credit deposit ratio to 30%, up from 13.5% in 2006. The banks deposit base grew by 16%.
Despite the growth of its loan book in 2007, ICB has managed to drive down its non-performing loan ratio from almost 12% of the loan book in 2006, to just 5% in 2007. The bank’s return on equity was a healthy 32% in 2007, but it was a big drop from last year when it returned almost 50% on equity. ICB says that the general strikes, high inflation and increased overheads were to blame for the fall. The bank made a strong case for Bank of the Year due to its ability to weather Guinea’s political and economic instability and still maintain strong growth.
“Major segments that helped sustain growth amid a difficult spell of poor liquidity and disturbances were the public sector, structured commodity financing, developmental projects and export financing,” says Seshagiri Rao, chief executive of ICB Guinea. “Inward remittance schemes saw good growth. New investments toned up cash management, assisting in handling the increased cash-flows and managing liquidity efficiently.”
