GCB Bank PLC, Ghana’s largest indigenous bank, has delivered a strong half-year performance despite significant pressure on interest income across the banking sector, demonstrating its ability to sustain growth in a challenging earnings environment.
Ghana’s banking sector has experienced a sharp decline in key interest rate indicators, with treasury bill yields falling, the Ghana Reference Rate (GRR) declining by nearly 14 percentage points year-on-year to 10.02%, and average lending rates dropping to 15.6%.
Despite these pressures, GCB Bank recorded significant growth in the first half of 2026.
By the end of June 2026, the bank’s operating income had increased by 36.1% year-on-year to GH¢3.73 billion. Profit before tax rose by 45.8% to GH¢1.91 billion, while profit after tax grew by 46.4% to GH¢1.23 billion.
The performance indicates that GCB has maintained the momentum from its 2025 results despite operating in a more difficult interest rate environment.
The bank’s growth was not driven by higher interest rate spreads. Interest income increased marginally by 4.1% to GH¢2.91 billion, while interest expenses declined by 28.9% to GH¢564.7 million.
The reduction in funding costs helped push net interest income up by 17.3% to GH¢2.34 billion, cushioning the impact of declining market rates. This came at a time when the industry’s average net interest margin fell to 9.6% in June 2026 from 12.4% a year earlier.
A major driver of GCB’s performance was the growth in non-funded income.
Net fee and commission income nearly doubled, rising by 98% to GH¢658.7 million, while trading income increased by 76.8% to GH¢701.9 million. Other operating income also recorded strong growth during the period.
Overall, non-funded income increased by about 86% to GH¢1.39 billion, contributing 37.3% of operating income compared with 27.2% a year earlier.
The shift highlights GCB’s growing reliance on customer transactions, fees, commissions and market activities, reducing its dependence on traditional interest income at a time when industry margins remain under pressure.
The strong revenue performance also improved operational efficiency. Personnel, depreciation and other operating expenses increased by 20.5%, below the 36.1% growth in operating income.
As a result, the bank’s cost-to-income ratio improved to about 43.7% from 49.4% recorded a year earlier.
Although impairment charges increased to GH¢197.5 million, they remained manageable relative to the bank’s earnings growth and balance sheet expansion.
Deposit growth remained a key driver of GCB’s performance during the period. Customer deposits increased by 24.5% from December 2025 to GH¢51.49 billion, supporting a 28.7% growth in total assets to GH¢67.43 billion.
The stronger funding base enabled the bank to increase net loans and advances by 35.4% to GH¢22.19 billion, while investment securities rose by 31.1% to GH¢21.44 billion.
GCB also recorded improvement in asset quality, with its non-performing loan ratio falling to 4.7% from 13.8% a year earlier. The figure remains significantly below the industry average of 16.1% at the end of the first half of 2026.
Capital adequacy declined to 15.9% from 20.0%, reflecting rapid asset growth and shareholder distributions, but remained above the regulatory minimum of 13%.
Shareholders’ equity increased by 16.8% year-to-date to GH¢7.02 billion, while the bank maintained a strong liquidity position with a liquidity ratio of 69.8%.
The results underline GCB Bank’s ability to diversify its income sources, manage costs and maintain balance sheet strength despite a challenging interest rate environment in Ghana’s banking sector.
