Liberia: George Mensah-Asante Leaves Ecobank Liberia After Six Years of Impressive Performance
Mr. George Mensah-Asante’s tour of duty at Ecobank Liberia as Managing Director has come to an end after Six successful years, The media has exclusively learnt from reliable industry sources.
But how will he be remembered?
George joined Ecobank Liberia in January 2017, replacing Gilles Guerard, who resigned from Ecobank.
Prior to joining Ecobank Liberia, Mr. George Mensah-Asante, a Ghanaian, worked as Executive Director of the Consumer Banking division at Ecobank Ghana, where he left an indelible mark, due to his excellent performance.
The experienced Banker who is currently the President of the Liberia Bankers Association has worked with the Ecobank Group since 1994. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration (Accounting option) and an Executive master’s in business administration (MBA) in Finance, both from the University of Ghana.
He is credited for turning around Ecobank Liberia that had made losses for several years before he joined.
Having joined the Liberian affiliate in 2017, Ecobank posted strong profits for the first time in 2018 under the stewardship of Mr. Mensah-Asante.
In his six years at the helm of the Pan-African bank, George saw the bank’s assets grow by 56% from US$204million in Dec 2016 to US$318million December in 2022.
In terms of profits, the bank has consistently posted strong profits since 2018.
Ecobank made a net profit of US$3.1million in 2018, up from a loss of US$4.8m in 2017.
As a sign that the bank had stabilized, Ecobank posted US$5.3million net profit in 2019 before increasing to US$7.2million in 2020.
In 2021, Ecobank recorded US$9.7million in net profit and subsequently in 2022, the Bank reported a pre-tax profit of US$13million.
The cost-to-income ratio (a measure of efficiency) move downward from 88% in 2016 to 52% in 2022, a significant improvement in the Bank’s cost management.
Under George’s guidance with his dedicated team, Ecobank’s customer deposits grew by 49% to US$262million in 2022, up from US$176million when he took charge in 2017.
One of George’s biggest achievements is keeping the bank free of operational losses, considering the fact that managing a commercial bank and money carries so much risk and it is quite a challenging task.
The future of Ecobank Liberia is now undoubtedly bright, after the pan-African bank consolidated growth over the last six years.
The Bank has also focused on reducing non-performing loans (NPLs), as part of the strategy to improve its risk profile.
Bright Future
Ecobank Liberia, the market leader in the Banking industry, is expected to sustain the profitability trend going forward. George has rebuilt and repositioned the bank as the leading and most profitable in Liberia.
George indicated that the dark days of the Bank were over, he added that “We know where our problem was; delinquent loans (delayed payments on loans/Non-Performing Loans) and operational losses, which we have made significant efforts to fix. Our non-performing loan ratio has improved significantly as per prudential classifications. The Bank will continue to deliver better customer experience in our service delivery.”
Revolutionizing digital banking
Ecobank Liberia is the best digital Bank in the industry. The Ecobank mobile app, EcobankPay, Ecobank Omni-Lite (Online Banking for SMEs, MSMEs) and Ecobank Omni-Plus (online platform for Corporate Clients), and Ecobank Online for individuals, are among the major digital platforms deployed by Ecobank. More than 80% of banking transactions are now performed on digital platforms. This is considered one of the major achievements of George.
Ecobank Xpress account, which is available on the Ecobank Mobile App is not only universal, but also open for both Ecobank customers and non-customers. All one needs to open an Ecobank Xpress account is a National ID Number. There are zero account fees, zero paperwork and no minimum balance. It takes about two minutes to download the Ecobank Mobile App from Google play store or App store.
Customers can also check their account balances, pay bills, pay school fees, block ATM cards, and check loan status, using the App.
One can also shop and pay at designated merchant shops without cash, or by using EcobankPay, for which you simply scan the QR code that is displayed at the merchant shop and follow the prompts to complete a payment.
Awards
Mr. George MENSAH-ASANTE has also seen Ecobank win several awards both local and International, during the last six years including “The Banker” Bank of the year award by the Financial Times.
Ecobank Liberia is a subsidiary of the Ecobank Group, the leading independent pan-African banking group with footprints across 33 African markets.