A new Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire was elected on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, following the bank’s Ordinary General Meeting in Abidjan.
The outgoing Chairman of the Board of Directors, Michel Aka-Anghui, who has held the position for nine years, reviewed Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire’s 2024 financial year, which recorded net banking income of 122 billion CFA francs, compared to 110 billion CFA francs in 2023, an increase of 11 per cent.
The Ordinary General Meeting decided to distribute to shareholders a total gross dividend of 44,260,682,400 CFA francs, corresponding to 804 CFA francs per share, or a net dividend of 723.6 CFA francs. Payment is scheduled for May 30, 2025.
The bank’s total assets increased by 5 per cent to 2,050 billion CFA francs, compared to 1,953 billion CFA francs in 2023. Net income stood at 57.4 billion CFA francs, an increase of 19.6 per cent compared to 48 billion CFA francs in 2023.
At this meeting, shareholders authorized the bank to issue, for its business purposes, loans of any kind, up to a maximum amount of 30 billion CFA francs, delegating to the Board of Directors the necessary powers to execute them within two years.
“For a bank to operate in an uncertain environment, it must have flexibility. This loan is one of the options we want to have to achieve this flexibility,” said Paul-Harry Aithnard, CEO of Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire.
Paul-Harry Aithnard indicated that this year’s General Meeting was “a turning point” because there were several changes in governance, including the renewal of several directors’ terms.
Serge Aime Thiemele Manizan, following shareholder approval by vote, joined the Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire Board of Directors as a director. He was subsequently elected Chairman of the Board by the members of this body.
The new Chairman of the Board, Serge Thiemele, intends to support the overall strategy, making it effective and guiding the bank in an environment that certainly presents risks, but also many opportunities.
For the first time, the subsidiary is publishing a report on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This 2024 CSR report, according to Mr. Aithnard, summarizes all the activities the bank have implemented around three main areas.
The first area, he said, was financial inclusion, namely the actions the bank had implemented to support financial inclusion in Côte d’Ivoire. The second area, sustainability, highlighted the bank’s environmental contribution in terms of ethics and responsible behavior.
“The third area is the societal impact we can have (in areas such as) education and healthcare, two key sectors in which we want to play a philanthropic role,” Mr. Paul-Harry Aithnard said.
Paul-Harry Aithnard stated that “we want to put artificial intelligence at the heart of the bank’s transformation,” both internally and in customer relations. He announced that it will soon be possible to open an online account using a smartphone.
AP/fss/gik/APA