Banque de France lauds performances of Togo’s banking sector
Thursday, 01 March 2018 16:34 
(Togo First) - Spurred by a 30.8% increase in operating income, Togo’s banking sector has recorded CFA63.4 billion of net positive results in 2016, after CFA46.7 billion of losses in 2015. This was revealed by Banque de France.
The positive performance was reflected on most of the sector’s indicators. For example, operating ratio, which compares operating expenses to net banking income, has improved from 74.8% to 72.6%.
The improvement also affected all assets of banks in the country.
Indeed, balance sheet total of all banks rose by 27.4%, against 14.6% in 2015. The consolidation of banking activity was sustained by a 16% surge in granted loans which stood at CFA1,176.5 billion.
Hence, net loans provided reached 36.8% of gross domestic product (GDP). This places Togo, in this regard, as number one across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), ahead of Senegal (33.1%) knowing that average in the region for this figure is 28%.
All these would not have been possible without the various measures implemented by banks over the past few years to spur financial inclusion.
In effect, the number of ATMs and bank agencies increased. Togo, in fact, has the best ATM density in the union, knowingly 21,000 people per ATM (against an average of 42,000 people per ATM still across the union).
Moreover, customers’ trust was consolidated as volume of long-term deposits soared by 15.6% over the period reviewed. These deposits make 59.5% of total deposits in Togo (against an average of 46.5% within the WAEMU).
France’s apex bank believes this is due to the appealing interests proposed by lenders on these deposits.
At the end of 2016, 17.6% of Togo’s adult population had a bank account, the highest rate in the WAEMU. This, according to Banque de France, is due to the dynamism of microfinance industry in the country. However, the Central Bank of France is concerned over the latter’s heterogeneity.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
