Kweku Bedu-Addo, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, says the bank would remain cautious in its growth agenda despite the recent relative stability in economic conditions.

Speaking at the “Facts Behind the Figures Programme” in Accra, Mr. Bedu-Addo said while business is growing and the bank continues to show momentum, there are inherent economics challenges to overcome.

He said the Bank would remain cautious in its growth agenda until there were clear signals of turnaround in the current economic situation

“The Bank will remain cautious in growth agenda until we turn the corner,” he said.

Mr. Bedu-Addo said the bank’s performance in the year had been mixed with double digit profits amidst increasing cost.

He said customers had been stressed by the harsh economic fundamentals since the beginning of the year, leading to an escalation in cost and high non-performing loans ratio.

Despite this, he said, the bank had made strong delivery on key performance metrics such as Return on Equity, earnings per share and cost to income ratio.

Besides, the balance sheet remains in excellent shape, strongly capitalized and well diversified, he said.

Touching on the bank’s third quarter performance, Mr. Dayo Omolokun, Chief Financial Officer, said there was double-digit growth in profits and income despite the tough economic environment.

He said the harsh economic conditions from the start of the year led to an erosion of business confidence, but there had been significant improvements in the last two months although the country is not yet out of the woods.

Mr. Omolokun said the lack of foreign exchange liquidity coupled with depreciation of the cedi led to a slow- down in operations, while customers’ profits were affected because they were not able to generate sufficient cash flows.

However, the bank’s underlying performance shows resilience, he said.

Total operating income rose by 27 per cent (GHC385 million), while cost increase by 39 per cent to (GHC129 million).

Deposit shot up to GHC2, 262 million, representing a 29 percent jump while advances also grew to GHC1, 415 million.

Mr. Omolokun said the underlying performance was very strong and that the bank would try to sustain the growth without compromising on risk management to enhance shareholder value.