By JAMES MUYANWA –
ECOBANK Zambia, a member of a Pan-African bank, has this year become the 12th biggest bank in the country in terms of assets and other benchmarks.
The bank, which was opened in the country about six years ago, has grown from the 13th position last year to 12th this year.
Ecobank Zambia managing director, Kola Adeleke said this in Lusaka yesterday when he met some officials from Times Printpak Zambia Limited, the publisher of Times of Zambia and Sunday Times of Zambia at the bank’s head office.
He said despite the challenges which the African and Zambian markets experienced this year, Ecobank Zambia scored a lot of successes resulting in its upward movement in terms of the rankings in the country.
Mr Adeleke said, for instance, during the year the bank’s assets grew by 40 per cent while the total revenue posted a 38 per cent increase on the figures for 2014.
For 2016, he said, the bank anticipated to move from the 12th position to 11th or lower.
Mr Adeleke, who was upbeat about the future outlook, said as a Pan-African bank, Ecobank believed in the local market and was determined to contribute to the growth of the host economies like Zambia’s.
On the general economic performance for the country, Mr Adeleke said, like any other country dependent on commodities, Zambia went through economic challenges in 2015.
He cited the foreign exchange market which was adversely affected by the low copper prices on the international market.
“These difficulties are not just in Zambia but affect all Sub-Saharan African countries which depend on commodities like copper, oil, iron and others. The year has not been a lot of roses,” he said.
He said as a result of the deep knowledge of Africa, Ecobank was able to predict future economic trends with high level of precision.
Headquartered in Togo, the Ecobank Group operates in 36 African countries and has presence in China, France, United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.