• Loan-loss provisions at the nine BRVM-listed banks that reported 2025 earnings rose 18% to $137 million as regional growth hit a record 6.7%.
• BOA Niger's net income collapsed 92% to $735,000, the lender breached two prudential ratios and scrapped its dividend for shareholders.
• Ivorian banks earned $462 million combined; BOA's three Sahel units together earned $56 million, less than BICICI alone delivered.

Loan-loss provisions at the nine banks listed on the BRVM, th regional stock exchange for West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), reached a combined $137 million. According to the 2025 results published by the exchange, this is an 18% increase from a year earlier, even as economic growth across the monetary union accelerated to a record 6.7% from 6.2% in 2024.

The widening gap between the currency bloc's expansion and deteriorating credit quality was sharpest at Bank of Africa Niger, whose net income collapsed 92% to $735,000 from $9 million, per figures from the bank’s certified financial statements. The Niamey-based lender, the only Nigerien company on the regional exchange, breached two prudential ratios at year-end and will pay no dividend to shareholders, according to a report published by Financial Afrik on April 2.

"Our bank experienced a significant drop in net income, but this decline is not isolated. It reflects macroeconomic tensions, notably an economic slowdown, and a deterioration of certain sector indicators," said Chief Executive Officer Mactar Diack as cited by Niger's state-run media outlet Le Sahel newspaper in April.

The figures lay bare a split inside the eight-nation currency union, whose listed banks cover six of its members except Togo and Guinea-Bissau. Cote d'Ivoire's four listed banks — BICICI, Ecobank CI, Societe Generale CI and SIB — delivered combined net income of $462 million, while BOA's Sahel subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger earned just $56 million, less than the $66 million at BICICI alone.

Coastal divide

Bank of Africa Burkina Faso, the second-largest BOA subsidiary by assets, saw net income fall 14% to $35 million as loan-loss charges nearly doubled to $15 million. The bank cut its customer loan book by 19% and redeployed funds to interbank deposits, which rose 295%. Bank of Africa Benin's cost of risk jumped 38-fold to $8.5 million from just $223,000 a year earlier, though the lender still posted a 2% profit.

Coastal banks moved in the opposite direction. BICICI, the former BNP Paribas SA affiliate in Abidjan, reported net income growth of 39% to $66 million, helped by a $2.7 million net reversal of prior provisions. Societe Generale CI, the largest bank in the panel with a $6.8 billion balance sheet, held net income flat at $182 million after raising its risk cost by 29% during Cote d'Ivoire's October 2025 presidential election cycle.

Seven of the nine listed banks announced dividends for the 2025 fiscal year totaling more than $353 million, led by Societe Generale CI at 2,606 CFA francs a share (80% payout ratio) and Ecobank CI at 888 CFA francs (77% payout), according to each lender's annual activity report. Bank of Africa Benin will distribute a net $42.7 million on May 15, Burkina Faso $31.4 million on April 23, Mali $16.2 million gross on May 31, and Senegal 450 CFA francs a share in early June, according to BRVM notices. BOA Niger shareholders will get nothing, after a net 209 CFA francs a share for 2024.

"BOA Niger operates in a constrained environment," Laura Tran Duc Minh, head of equity investments at Groupe BOA, said during a presentation in Abidjan, according to a report published by Aujourd'hui au Faso on April 17. The group will still distribute close to $180 million across its five paying WAEMU subsidiaries, she said.

Aggregate earnings held up across the panel. Combined net income rose 5.9% to $594 million on total assets of $22.8 billion and a 6.5% increase in net banking income, based on the published statements From June 2025 to its latest decision in March 2026, the monetary union's central bank has cut its main lending rate by a cumulative 50 basis points to 3%. Headline inflation is now near zero according to latest available data. The next test comes with first-quarter 2026 results, when the full effect of monetary easing on interest margins and of security pressure in the Sahel on asset quality will begin to appear.

Idriss Linge