He said under the Bank’s digital and fintech strategy, hinged on infrastructure, automation and creating a digital ecosystem, the Bank, among others, was implementing a two-year Fintech roll-out plan to offer customers new products with completely new experience.

Speaking at the bank’s turn at the fact-behind-the-figures series of the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Owiredu said the Bank had automated all its processes and operated a fully functional automated 24-hour contact centre.

“CalBank has updated its core banking platform to be more agile to easily accommodate its digital banking channels,” he said.

Mr Owiredu said the profit after tax of CalBank fell by eight per cent from GH¢170, 214 in the third quarter last year to GH¢156, 626.

Mr Owiredu said total assets increased 26.3 per cent from GH¢8.7 billion to GH¢10.9 billion driven by increased advances and investment securities.

“Total income increased by 10.3 per cent over the prior year’s revenue of GH¢555.7 million. Performance for the period was primarily driven by improved credit business and channel performance,” he said.

Mr Owiredu said the net commissions and fees increased by 96.8 per cent due to enhanced credit activities and electronic banking services.

He said total deposits increased 13.3 per cent to GH¢6.5 billion from intense corporate and retail deposit mobilisation drivers including through electronic channels.

The Managing Director said investment securities increased by 811 per cent in line with the bank’s strategy to enhance interest income by investing in excess liquidity in short term investments.

“Net loans and advances increased by 58.5 per cent to GH¢35 billion from GH¢2.2 billion as we converted pipeline loans into booked transactions,” he said.

The Managing Director of CalBank said borrowings increased by 84.6 per cent as we deepened our partnerships to secure borrowings from development finance institutions.

Mr Owiredu said expenses remained controlled throughout the review period, explaining that “For the year to September 2022, operating expenses totalled GH¢332.6 m, reflecting an increase of 32.3 per cent over the prior year’s GH¢251.3 million.”

He explained that the increase in expenses were driven by the impact of exchange rates on foreign currency denominated expenses, inflation and increases in staff compensation levels.

“Net impairment loss dropped from GH¢48.8m to GH¢39.8m which represents 18.3 per cent. The improvement in credit loss expense was partly due to significant recoveries and the improved quality of the stock of new loans,” MrOwiredu stated.

He said Non-Performing Loans ratio fell from 13.7 per cent in quarter three in 2021 to 6.5 per cent in quarter three this year, adding that the Capital Adequacy Ratio also fell from 19.3 per cent in the third quarter of last year to 16.3 per cent in the third quarter of this year.

Outlining the strategic priorities of the bank, MrOwiredu said ”Our overarching strategy is to become a tier-one bank measured by total assets and deepen our retail presence by leveraging innovation and customer centricity.”

He said the vision of the bank was to be the preferred bank for customer experience and innovation.

The Managing Director said the bank remained resilient amid the global pandemic, thereby making some significant stride on the bank’s three-year strategy, adding that “Our aggressive balance sheet growth resulted in 8th position in the industry from 9th the previous year.”

He said the bank would continue to focus on brand communication, digitalisation and innovation, products and channels, technical, organisational culture and performance management, and strategic partnerships and efficiency and profitability.

Mr Owiredu said the Bank had strong development of the bank’s internal processes, people, technology, risk management and customer service offerings.