Wegagen Bank Resurges to Historic Profits

Wegagen Bank has continued the formidable rebound of the past two years as it increased total deposits by 22% to reach 52.1 billion birr over the last financial year.

Shareholders gathered for the general assembly meeting at the Hilton Addis Hotel last Saturday walked out with a smile as the Bank’s Earning Per Share (EPS) surged by 14.2% to reach 36.89 birr.

Despite prevailing macroeconomic instability, Wegagen managed to increase its total income by 40% over the 2023/24 financial year to reach 9.8 billion birr. The Bank’s gross profits also shot up to a historic high of 2.2 billion birr following an 86% increment from year on year.

However, inflationary pressures resulted in a 31% jump in expenses, which added up to reach 7.54 billion birr during the reporting period.

Board Chairman Abdishu Hussien, highlighted to shareholders the Bank’s resolute growth in the face of domestic and international economic volatility.

"Despite global and regional challenges, Wegagen has demonstrated its resilience and achieved commendable results," he said. 

Abdishu also highlighted the Bank’s efforts to expand its technological capacities by introducing a slew of digital products

“Efforts were made to ramp up the number of digital banking service users,” the Board Chairman said, referring to the 2.7 million mobile banking users and the nearly 17,000 internet banking customer base.

In July 2024, Wegagen launched a digital lending platform, Efoyta, in collaboration with Kifiya Financial Technology to support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with loans ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 birr. One month later, in August, the Bank partnered with Visa and launched its international prepaid Visa card service, allowing customers to make international cashless payments.

The Bank measured strongly on several financial indicators as it delivered a Return on average Equity (RoE) of 19.9% and 2.7% on its Return on average Assets (RoA).

Wegagen also toed the line in meeting the 14% cap in credit growth set by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) as it disbursed 9.6 billion birr in the year. A 13.6% growth in total outstanding loans and advances raised the Bank’s total outstanding amount to 45.1 billion birr.

The Bank experienced a 27% growth in total foreign currency generation, which rose up to 305 million USD in the financial year while its total assets ballooned by 22.9% to reach 65.7 billion birr.

Wegagen also edged past the 5 billion birr minimum paid-up capital requirement set by the NBE after a 27% increment to reach 5.1 billion birr.