Franklin Hayford, chairman of Trust Bank Gambia Limited has said that the bank's interest income grew by 25.8 percent (GMD666.3 million) driven by growth in lending as well as growth in investment in government securities.

Chairman Hayford was speaking recently at the 2022 Trust Bank Annual General Meeting held at Kairaba Beach Hotel when he made the remarks. He said that profit before tax went up 93.03 percent (GMD346.4 million).

He added that total assets increased to GMD10.487 billion whilst customer deposits grew to GMD9.2 billion (3.7 percent.)

He stated that the group's performance in 2022 has demonstrated huge progress in the actions they believe will drive sustainable growth in financial returns. He added that they have delivered growth in profitability despite challenging market conditions.

He noted that total operating costs excluding impairment increased by 13.9 percent to GMD568.2 million in line with inflation and general increase in the prices of goods and services. He added that net loans and advances grew by 98 percent to GMD4.5 billion.

According to him, loan impairment was up from GMD179, 000.00 to GMD37.3 million in 2022, adding that there has been no significant deterioration in the credit quality of the loan book, although stress still remains.

"The increase in impairment charges was largely due to the increase in the loan book, but non-performing loan ratio remained low at 0.7 percent, a slight improvement from 0.8 percent in 2021," he revealed.

He noted that earnings per share increased by 65 percent from 75 bututs per share in 2021 to 124 bututs per share in 2022.

He stated that capital adequacy ratio of the bank stood at 17 percent, well above the minimum regulatory requirement of 10 percent. "This will provide room to support our customers with access to loans," he concluded