It is emerging that banks are still accruing a large percentage of their income from their investments in various securities.
The latest banking sector report released by the Bank of Ghana disclosed that this component of income increased to 44.8 percent in October 2019 from 42.9 percent in October 2018.
The Bank of Ghana’s industry report showed that income from investments comprising bills and securities reached 47.47 billion cedis in October 2019; compared to the 42.84 billion cedis recorded in the preceding year.
Of this amount, bills which refer to promise papers which mature in a year or less, raked in 16.47 billion cedis in October 2019; up from the 14.81 billion cedis recorded in the same period in 2018.
Also, securities which refer to stocks or investments in companies and bonds which usually mature after ten years and above, gave banks 30.99 billion cedis last year indicating a rise from the 28.02 billion cedis made in the year before.
Meanwhile, income from loans, the second income generating venture for banks, declined to 34.5 percent from 36.1 percent during the same review period.
The third largest income source for the banking industry were fees and commissions such as charges on ATM cards, cheque books, account maintenance fees amongst others.
They accounted for 12.3 percent of total income in October 2019 down from the 12.7 percent recorded during the same period in October 2018.
However, other income category, described as residual, increased marginally to 8.5 percent from 8.2 percent during the period under review.