Ecobank Liberia Just Posted Its Best Year Since 2018. The CEO Explains How.

Ecobank Liberia posted an 18% increase in pre-tax profit for fiscal year 2025, its best performance since 2018 and a result that significantly outpaced the Liberian banking sector average of approximately 9% profit growth. The bank — a subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, the pan-African banking group headquartered in Lomé, Togo — attributed the result to three drivers: growth in its SME lending portfolio, increased fee income from digital banking and trade finance, and lower non-performing loan ratios following a 2023–2024 portfolio clean-up.

Liberia's banking sector comprises approximately 10 licensed commercial banks, including Ecobank, the International Bank of Liberia, United Bank for Africa Liberia, Guarantee Trust Bank Liberia, LibertyBank, and the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment. The sector has been growing — total banking assets reached approximately $1.8 billion in 2025, up from $1.4 billion in 2022 — but financial inclusion remains a challenge. The CBL estimates that fewer than 30% of adult Liberians hold a formal bank account, with the proportion falling significantly outside Montserrado County.

Ecobank Liberia's Managing Director, Maima Quiah-Konneh, told TrueRate that the bank's SME lending expansion was the central strategy of 2024–2025. The bank developed a tiered credit product for businesses with annual turnover of $50,000 to $2 million — a segment historically underserved by Liberian banks, which have concentrated lending on government contractors, established importers, and multinational clients. The SME loan book grew 32% in 2025, with the bank making approximately 1,400 new SME loans of an average size of $85,000. Non-performing loan ratios on the new SME book remain at 4.2%, below the sector average.

Digital banking has been the second pillar. Ecobank Liberia's app-based platform, Ecobank Mobile, now has over 180,000 registered users — up from 95,000 at the end of 2023 — and processes approximately 40% of the bank's retail transactions. The shift to digital has reduced the cost of serving low-balance customers and has allowed the bank to extend services to clients in counties where it does not have physical branches. Quiah-Konneh noted that mobile-initiated loan applications now account for 28% of the bank's retail credit approvals, a figure she expects to exceed 40% by the end of 2026.

The obstacles to deeper financial inclusion are real. Interest rates on Ecobank's commercial loans range from 16% to 21% annually — a reflection of the CBL's 16.25% policy rate, high operational costs, and the absence of a functioning credit bureau in Liberia. Without reliable credit history data, banks must price risk conservatively. The CBL has been working with the World Bank to establish a national credit bureau since 2022; the system is now partially operational, but coverage remains limited to borrowers who have previously interacted with the formal banking system — excluding the majority of the population the bureau is meant to serve.