Ecobank Group has reported net profits of $689.3 million for the 2025 financial year, a 29 percent increase from the $534 million posted in 2024, as its Growth Transformation and Returns strategy continued to produce measurable results across its 35 African markets. Net revenues for the year grew 17 percent to $2.5 billion, while total assets expanded 14 percent to $35.8 billion.
The results reflect consistent execution across a geographically diverse business that few financial institutions have successfully built on the continent. In June 2026, shareholders approved a dividend of $40 million, the first the Group had paid out in two years, a decision that Awori described as a reflection of confidence in where the business is headed.
Under the leadership of Group Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Awori, who assumed the role in March 2023, Ecobank has pursued a focused programme of investment and expansion aimed at deepening its presence across African markets while improving returns. During 2025, the bank installed 500 new ATMs, extended its Direct Sales Agents programme into 22 markets, and hired over 1,000 new personnel. The expansion of digital account openings across multiple countries has widened financial access for customers who previously had limited options within the formal banking system.
Awori has been direct about the bank’s positioning. “We are a bank that has spent four decades building the financial infrastructure Africa needs to trade, grow, and compete,” he said in a recent interview with Global Finance. That infrastructure now spans Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya, and 30 other African markets, making Ecobank the only financial institution with a genuine pan-African retail and commercial banking presence.
The external recognition has kept pace with the performance. In 2024, Ecobank won 14 awards from Euromoney and Global Finance in a single awards cycle, including Best Bank for SMEs in Africa, a record Jeremy Awori received at the Global Finance Best Bank Awards in Washington DC. Ecobank Nigeria separately won Best FX Bank in Nigeria at the Global Finance SME Bank Awards. Global Finance’s 2026 World’s Best Banks in Africa ranking identified Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa alongside Nigeria as the markets driving the Group’s next growth phase.
As 2026 continues, Ecobank’s focus remains on executing the GTR strategy with what Awori has described as agility, resilience, and disciplined risk and expense management across all markets. With a profit base now approaching $700 million and a network that no competitor has replicated, the Group enters the second half of the year in its strongest financial position in its four-decade history.
Samuel Agboola is a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspaper
