Deposits Did the Heavy Lifting
Ecobank's nine-month result, filed with the Nigerian Exchange on Tuesday after weeks of delay, rests on the liability side of the balance sheet. Deposits grew 14% to US$27.5 billion, and the mix improved with them: low-cost current and savings accounts accounted for 85% of the total. Group chief executive Jeremy Awori credited that deposit base with cushioning the margin pressure created by falling interest rates across the group's markets, allowing net interest income to grow 12% even as policy rates ease.
Payments provided the second engine. Revenue from the payments business rose 9%, reflecting the group's continued spending on technology and digital platforms, and group net revenue matched the pre-tax growth rate at 12%, reaching about US$2.0 billion.
Efficiency Ahead of Plan, Regions Mixed
The efficiency numbers are the strongest part of the release. A cost-to-income ratio of 47.8% puts the group ahead of its own 2026 target range with a quarter still to run, and a 24.9% return on tangible equity shows the cost discipline is converting into shareholder returns rather than simply protecting the margin.
Underneath the group figures, the regional picture split. Profit before tax rose 20% in Central, Eastern and Southern Africa and 10% in Anglophone West Africa, offsetting softer performances in Francophone West Africa and in Nigeria, the group's home listing market. That spread is the practical case for Ecobank's pan-African model: weakness in one bloc was absorbed by growth in two others.
What Investors Watch Next
Credit quality is the main item to monitor into the final quarter. The non-performing loan ratio was broadly stable at 7.5%, and on the group's filing measure, Stage 3 loans improved to 7.5% of gross loans from 9.4% at the end of December 2025. Management flagged energy prices, inflation and foreign-exchange volatility as the live risks for the rest of the year, while saying the group remains on track to meet its 2026 targets.
The filing also closes an uncomfortable chapter for NGX investors: the results had been outstanding since the board met on October 22, and the group cancelled its October 26 general meeting on a directive from the West African Monetary Union's Banking Commission. With the numbers now public, attention returns to performance — and to whether the deposit-led growth can be sustained as rates fall further.
