CEO Sashidharan Nair is justifiably proud of International Commercial Bank’s performance in 2004. Profits were up 63% to just over 2bn Guinea francs ($555,000). Other performance measures were even better: assets were up 147%, ROE inched higher to 25.3%, the bank’s cost-to-income ratio dipped lower to 47% from 55%, and – most impressively – the bank continued to improve the quality of its loan portfolio, seeing the NPL ratio drop to 15% last year from 25% the year before, and 53% in 2002.
Despite the small size of the market, the judges noted International Commercial Bank’s bold and ambitious growth strategy. A $300,000 investment in an online banking system, providing interconnectivity between branches, allowed the bank to improve customer services greatly while strengthening risk management. Partly as a result of the investment, deposits grew 176% in 2004.
In addition, investment in SWIFT improved the bank’s foreign remittance services and bolstered the trade finance division.
“The key reason for our success,” says Mr Nair, “was that we identified high potential customers and delivered services and products that match their needs in terms of deposits as well as credit and trade finance facilities. We continuously face the challenge of sourcing FX. In response we have targeted clients that are in the export-oriented companies, NGOs and international institutions.”
