Ghana’s banking sector closed 2025 with stronger liquidity and higher capitalisation than the previous year, but a widening divide between rapidly expanding mid-tier banks and more cautious larger institutions has emerged as the defining feature of the industry’s recovery, according to the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) 2025 Financial Performance Dashboard.
Liquidity improved broadly across the sector, driven by stronger deposit mobilisation, better short-term asset management and easing funding pressures. Core liquid assets as a share of short-term liabilities declined from 46.3 percent to 37.9 percent, reflecting a more efficient deployment of funds rather than a deterioration in buffers. GAB noted that many banks moved from tight liquidity positions in 2024 to more comfortable levels in 2025.
Credit growth told a more complicated story. Zenith Bank expanded its loan book by more than 111 percent while other institutions recorded contractions ranging from single digits to losses exceeding 49 percent. GAB attributed the pullbacks to deliberate risk adjustment and portfolio restructuring rather than a structural retreat from lending. “Lending recovery is underway but remains concentrated, indicating cautious and uneven credit expansion,” the association stated.
Asset growth was emphatically a mid-tier story. OmniBSIC Bank led the sector with total asset expansion of 131.4 percent, followed by NIB at 109.5 percent. Several other mid-sized banks recorded growth between 30 and 44 percent. Growth at GCB and Ecobank, which hold the two largest asset bases in the sector, was comparatively subdued. GAB observed that the gap between the largest banks and the rest of the market is narrowing as mid-tier balance sheets double within single fiscal years.
Net interest margins declined across the sector as falling interest rates compressed spreads between lending and deposit rates. GAB described the movement as normalisation rather than an erosion of earnings capacity.
Cost efficiency improved broadly as macroeconomic stabilisation reduced operating pressures. Lower inflation and a more stable cedi allowed income to grow faster than costs across most institutions, strengthening the sector’s ability to sustain profitability in a lower interest rate environment.
GAB cautioned that the sector’s full potential would depend on improved asset quality, tighter cost management and a stable operating environment capable of supporting sustainable credit growth.
