CalBank Plc, listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) under the ticker CAL, posted a group net profit of GH¢106.76 million for the first quarter ended 31 March 2026, three times the GH¢35.58 million recorded in the same period a year earlier, according to unaudited consolidated financial statements released by the bank.
The result marks the most emphatic quarterly profit in recent memory for the lender, which spent 2022 and 2023 absorbing deep losses from Ghana’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) before staging a methodical recovery. At the bank level, profit for the period reached GH¢102.02 million, up from GH¢50.67 million in Q1 2025, doubling year on year.
Revenue More Than Doubles
Total revenue at the bank level surged to GH¢315.49 million from GH¢147.70 million in Q1 2025, as each income stream delivered substantial growth. Net interest income led the advance, more than doubling to GH¢169.28 million from GH¢79.55 million, supported by a sharp contraction in interest expense from GH¢117.02 million to GH¢65.67 million. That reduction reflects the bank’s deliberate unwinding of expensive wholesale borrowings over the past year.
Net trading income registered the sharpest percentage gain among revenue lines, rising to GH¢88.82 million from GH¢24.64 million in Q1 2025. Net fees and commission income also expanded, reaching GH¢57.38 million compared with GH¢43.51 million a year earlier.
Profit before tax at the bank level doubled to GH¢156.96 million from GH¢77.95 million, and after an income tax charge of GH¢54.94 million, the bank retained GH¢102.02 million as profit for the period.
Regulatory Ratios Transformed
The bank’s regulatory position has undergone a fundamental shift. The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) stood at 17.2 percent as at 31 March 2026, compared with a negative 7.1 percent in the corresponding quarter of 2025, a direct consequence of the GH¢1.164 billion rights issue completed in the final quarter of last year. The Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio followed a similar trajectory, reaching 15.3 percent from a prior negative reading of 9.9 percent.
Asset quality continued to improve. The Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio fell to 15.1 percent from 45.5 percent a year earlier, as recoveries and regulator-approved write-offs of fully provisioned legacy loans continued to cleanse the portfolio. CalBank has stated a target of reaching the Bank of Ghana (BoG) benchmark of 10 percent by the close of 2026.
The liquidity ratio reached 90.7 percent, meaningfully above the 68.4 percent recorded a year earlier, and the bank recorded no defaults or sanctions on statutory liquidity requirements during the quarter.
Balance Sheet and Deposits Grow
Group total assets expanded to GH¢13.43 billion from GH¢11.84 billion at the end of March 2025. Investment securities grew to GH¢8.08 billion from GH¢5.30 billion, while deposits from customers at the bank level rose to GH¢10.34 billion from GH¢9.05 billion, reflecting continued deposit mobilisation.
Borrowings at the bank level were cut to GH¢933.14 million from GH¢1.87 billion a year earlier, reducing the bank’s reliance on higher-cost wholesale funding. Total shareholders’ equity at the bank level expanded to GH¢1.63 billion from GH¢268.01 million in Q1 2025, underpinned by stated capital of GH¢1.42 billion following the rights issue.
Basic earnings per share on a group basis stood at GH¢0.1009 compared with GH¢0.1314 in Q1 2025. The lower per-share figure reflects a substantially enlarged share count following the rights issue, rather than any deterioration in underlying performance. Net cash generated from operating activities at the bank level reached GH¢1.43 billion during the quarter.
The statements were signed by Directors Carl Selasi Asem and Daniel Nii Kwei-Kumah Sackey. The financial statements remain unaudited and accounting policies applied are consistent with those used in the 2025 annual audited financial statements.
