Banks’ profitability moderates, but record GH¢9.2bn profit in 8 months of 2026

The banking industry remained profitable at the end of August 2026, although profitability moderated compared with the corresponding period in 2025.

Profit-after-tax (PAT) declined marginally to GH¢9.2 billion from GH¢9.7 billion a year earlier. This represented a contraction of 5.7%, compared with growth of 46.1% recorded in August 2025.

Similarly, profit-before-tax (PBT) contracted by 5.7% on a year-on-year basis, in contrast to the 42.0% growth recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.

According to the October 2026 Banking Sector Development Report, growth across the banking industry’s major income lines moderated during the review period, except for fees and commissions income, which increased by 17.9% in August 2026. This is compared with 13.1% a year earlier.

In contrast, net interest income contracted by 4.2%, reversing the 21.8% growth recorded in August 2025, largely reflecting the low-interest-rate environment and its dampening effect on interest earnings.

Similarly, the growth in other income slowed relative to the corresponding period in 2025.

The growth in the banking industry’s cost base moderated during the review period, with operating expenses increasing by 6.4% in August 2026, down from 19.5% a year earlier.

The moderation reflected slower growth in staff costs and a contraction in non-staff expenses. In contrast, provisions for depreciation, bad debts and impairment losses rose sharply by 76.3%, reversing the 46.0% contraction recorded in August 2025.

Return on Assets and Return on Equity

The profitability indicators for the banking sector moderated in August 2026, reflecting the slowdown in earnings growth during the review period.

The industry’s Return on Equity (ROE) declined to 22.2% in August 2026 from 32.2% in August 2025. Similarly, Return on Assets (ROA) decreased to 4.3% from 5.6% over the same period.

Interest Margin and Spread

Interest spread for the industry narrowed to 5.9% in August 2026 from 7.9% in August 2025.

The decrease in spread resulted from the marginal decline in interest payable to 2.2%, from 3.8% a year earlier.

Gross yields also declined to 8.1% in August 2026 compared to 11.6% a year ago.

The ratio of gross income to total assets (asset utilisation) also dropped to 7.3% from 9.2%, whereas the profitability ratio also recorded a marginal decline to 25.3% in August 2026 from 25.4% in August 2025.