Maputo, Nov. 7, 2025 (Lusa) - More than 78% of the credit granted by Ecobank Moçambique was in default at the end of September.
Still, most of the country's banks also maintained ratios above 5%, the regulator's recommended level.
In Banco de Moçambique's report on the Prudential and Economic-Financial Indicators for July to September, Ecobank closed the quarter with a non-performing loan ratio (NPL) of 78.54%, compared to 76.54% in the previous quarter and 42.66% at the end of 2024.
At the end of September, Malawi's FDH Bank confirmed that it had completed the acquisition of Ecobank Mozambique, which it now leads with a 98.87% share, according to information sent to that country's stock exchange.
According to the information, FDH Bank completed the purchase of Ecobank's entire stake in the institution. At the same time, the remaining minority position of 1.13% will continue to be held by the Mozambican state's Housing Development Fund.
Next in the report was Moza Banco, with a non-performing loan ratio of 41.4%, compared to 40.5% in the previous quarter, while Access Bank reduced this to 10.26%, compared to 13.45% in the previous quarter.
United Bank for Africa (UBA), on the other hand, rose from a ratio within the recommended range in the previous quarter, of 2.16%, to 14.54%.
According to the report, based on data provided by the financial institutions themselves, First National Bank (FNB), Standard Bank, First Capital Bank (FCB) and Absa have an NPL ratio within the recommended parameter (below 5%) of 3.12%, 2.90%, 2.85% and 3.34% respectively.
Millennium BIM, one of the country's largest and owned by Portugal's BCP, saw its non-performing loan ratio rise slightly to 2.69% in the third quarter of the year, while that of BCI, led by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, also rose slightly to 13.89%.
The Bank of Mozambique has previously warned of a deterioration in its credit portfolio, with defaults rising in 2024 and customers owing more than €400 million.
In the financial stability report, the central bank states that the NPL ratio stood at 9.32% of the total in 2024, compared to 8.23% the previous year, ‘still above the conventionally accepted maximum limit of 5.0%’.
'This increase reflects a deterioration in the quality of the credit portfolio and a change in the trend recorded in previous years,' reads the document, which adds that non-performing loans totalled 30.41 billion meticais (€412 million) in 2024, an increase of 12.88%.
Data from the central bank indicates that 15 commercial banks and 12 microbanks currently operate in Mozambique, as well as credit cooperatives and savings and credit organisations.
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