Banks' shareholders’ funds increased by 48.5% to GH¢48.0 billion in the first half of 2025, the July 2025 Banking Development Sector report has revealed.

This is compared to a growth of 44.9% a year ago.

According to the report by the Bank of Ghana, the growth was on account of a rebound in profits across the industry and recapitalisation efforts of undercapitalised banks.

Meanwhile, bills (short-term debt instruments) constituted the largest component of banks’ investment portfolio, after its share rose to 60.3% in June 2025.This was from 39.9% in June 2024.

The share of long-term securities in total investments, however, declined to 39.4% from 59.8% over the same period.

The share of equity investments remained negligible and unchanged at 0.3% during the period under review.

Asset and Liability Structure

In a related development, the asset structure of the banking industry’s balance sheet in June 2025 reflected banks’ preference for investments.

Investments (comprising bills, securities, and equity) replaced cash and bank balances as the largest component of total assets, with an increased share of 42.3% in June 2025, from 33.2% in June 2024, as banks rebalanced their portfolios in favour of higher returns on investments.

Cash and bank balances was the second largest component of banks’ assets as of June 2025, although its share in total assets declined to 28.9%, from 35.8% in June 2024.

Investments and cash and bank balances together accounted for 71.2% of total assets in June 2025, compared to a share of 69.0% in June 2024.

Net loans and advances constituted the third-largest component of total assets, recording a declined share of 19.0%, from 21.4% in June 2024.

Non-earning assets (fixed assets and other assets) in banks’ total assets recorded a marginal increase in share to 9.9%, from 9.6%, during the review period.

On the liability side, the share of deposits in banks’ liabilities and shareholders’ funds declined to 72.9%t in June 2025, from 76.1% in the corresponding period last year.

The share of borrowings rose during the period under review to 8.6% from 7.2%, reflecting the growth in total borrowings during the period.