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Bayport Savings and Loans to focus on digital financial services —MD


Bayport Savings and Loans Plc, says it is focusing on digital financial services as part of its strategic direction to reach the unbanked and underserved communities in the country.

The Managing Director of Bayport Saving and Loans Plc, Mr Nii Amankra Tetteh who disclosed this in Accra on Wednesday at the company’s turn of the Facts Behind the Figures series of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to present the 2019 half-year performance of Bayport, said the move was to reduce the cost of operations and expand the footprint of the company across the country.

Bayport Savings and Loans Plc owned by Bayport Management Limited with 98 per cent shares, SSNIT, one per cent shares  and BIHQ with one per cent shares, has raised about GHȻ300 million from the Ghana Fixed Income Market of the Ghana Stock Exchange, from a shelf amount of GHȻ500 million.

He explained that as of June this year, the company had established about 34 digital centres across the country and was offering loans and financial services through the digital centres.

Mr Tetteh also said the new area of focus of the company was to offer long term loans to its clients at better interest rates to give them financial relief.

The interest income of Bayport Savings and Loans for the first half of this year dipped by 9 per cent to GHȻ138 million compared with the GHȻ138 recorded the same period last year.

Mr Amankra explained that the dip in interest income in the first half of this year was “due to lower yields resulting from the general decline in interest rates”.

Touching on the 2019 half year performance of the company, the Managing Director indicated that Bayport closed the first half of 2019 with a net interest income of GHȻ125.3 million.

“Loans and advances grew by 23 per cent to GHȻ663 million compared to 2018’s half year position of GHȻ538 million,” he said, adding that “the growth was largely due to the company’s response to market dynamics for longer term loans”.

Mr Amankra said interest expense went up to 21 per cent as a result of the “additional funding raised to support the growth of the loan book,” while other income dropped by 27 per cent “due to lower excess liquidity”.

The Acting Managing Director of the GSE, Mr Ekow Afedzie commended the management of Bayport Savings and Loans for being regular at the Fact Behind the Figures programme and providing the market with information about the operations of the company.

He entreated other companies to use the Accra bourse to raise funds to finance their companies.

By Kingsley Asare

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