The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has reported that the Savings and Loans sector recorded GH¢515.32 million in profit last year, 2025.

This indicates that the sector recorded a GH¢373.75 million increase in profits, representing a 264% surge year-on-year, according to BoG’s Annual Report and Financial Statement, 2025.

The report also noted that the sub-sector recorded a Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 3.5% in December 2025, increasing from -0.6% at the end of December 2024, below the prudential minimum of 10.0%.

The Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio decreased from 15.0% at the end of December 2024 to 11.8% in December 2025, representing a decline of 3.2 percentage points and a year-on-year reduction of 21.3%.

More Savings and Loans companies secured licenses in 2025. According to BoG, at the end of December 2024, the total number of licensed microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ghana was 132.

By December 2025, this number had risen to 172, representing an increase of 40 institutions, or about a 30.3% year-on-year growth.

Total assets also stood at GH¢12.63 billion at the end of December 2025, representing a year-on-year growth of 31.2%.

The total assets of MFIs amounted to GH¢3.06 billion, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 55.5%, compared to 35.7% the previous year. Deposits increased by 27.8% year-on-year at the end of December 2025.

The average CAR and NPL ratios stood at 22.1% and 26.4%, respectively, as of the end of December 2025. Overall, profitability improved during the review year.

Last year, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) announced a slight increase in Non-Performing Loans (NPLs). This was revealed in the central bank’s July 2025 Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Report.

NPLs referred to loans that were in default, typically when borrowers had missed payments for between 90 and 180 days, and they posed significant risks to banks and the wider economy.

According to the MPC report, as of June 2025, NPLs in the banking sector had reached GH¢20.7 billion, representing a 1.3% increase compared to the GH¢20.4 billion recorded the previous year.

Despite this marginal increase in the value of NPLs, the data indicated an overall improvement in asset quality across the industry. The NPL ratio, which measured the proportion of total non-performing loans, declined to 23.1% in June 2025 from 24.2% in June 2024. This improvement occurred even as the share of foreign currency-denominated NPLs continued to fall, reflecting a gradual strengthening in loan performance within the sector.

When the fully provisioned loan loss category was adjusted for, the industry’s NPL ratio fell further to 8.5% from 10.8%, reflecting a reduction in sub-standard non-performing loans.

“The decline in the NPL ratio during the period under review was explained by the lower growth in the NPL stock relative to the growth in total loans,” the Bank of Ghana noted.

According to BoG, the sector accounting for the bulk of non-performing loans remained the private sector. The proportion of NPLs attributable to the private sector rose slightly to 96.4% in June 2025 from 95.6% in June 2024, while the public sector share declined to 3.6% from 4.4%.