Izwe S&L to launch digital float product for mobile money agents

*post-tax profit hits GH¢6.1mn

*on course for BoG recapitalisation

Izwe Savings & Loans Plc is preparing to roll out a short-term digital credit facility for mobile money agents across Ghana, as the company reports a near-thirteenfold increase in profit for the 2025 financial year and advances plans to reposition its business around digital lending and payments.

This was disclosed by Raymond Kwakye Bismarck, Chief Executive Officer, when the financial services provider took its turn at Ghana Stock Exchange’s (GSE) Facts Behind the Figures.

The product, branded Izwe Float, will provide mobile money agents with loan amounts of up to GH¢3,000 for a maximum tenure of six days, calibrated to the settlement cycle of domestic telecommunications companies.

Repayment will be automated through a wallet-triggered mechanism. The facility is designed to address a structural liquidity gap in the mobile money ecosystem, whereby agents frequently exhaust their float during peak transaction periods before receiving commission settlements from telcos.

“In my experience, I have visited vendors where I want to transfer just GH¢3,000 or  GH¢4,000 and they are unable to transfer. They have to call somebody to transfer a top-up or additional funds. Izwe is coming to the market with a product to help them close this gap,” he said, adding that GH¢10million has been allocated for the pilot over the next six months.

March 2026 figures from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) placed the total number of mobile money agents at 976,000, with 515, 000 of them active.

Agents will be required to have operated for at least six to twelve months, verified through telco transaction statements. Eligibility and loan-sizing will be determined by a scoring algorithm drawing on three to six months of bank statement data.

The Float product is subject to regulatory approval from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and is expected to launch in the coming months, alongside three related digital offerings: the  Izwe Boost, Merchant Credit and Izwe Pay, all previously piloted by the Izwe Africa Group.

The figures

The digital push comes as Izwe reports its strongest financial performance in several years. The company recorded a profit after tax of GH¢6.1million for the year ended 31 December 2025 against GH¢0.4million in 2024,  an increase of approximately 1,200 percent. Profit before tax stood at GH¢9.3million.

The improvement was driven primarily by a compression in funding costs rather than revenue growth. Net interest income rose 15.6 percent to GH¢80.6million while total operating expenses declined to GH¢85.6million from GH¢88million.

The cost-to-income ratio improved to 67.5 percent from approximately 80.9 percent. Total assets stood at GH¢511million at year-end, with customer deposits growing four percent to GH¢311million.

The company’s cost of funds fell by approximately 4.6 percentage points to 17.7 percent, a reduction CFO Elizabeth Blankson attributed in part to favourable macroeconomic conditions including the broader decline of interest rates across the market during the year.

The results were tempered by an elevated non-performing loan ratio of 25 percent. Management attributed the deterioration in part to a mechanical denominator effect – the loan book contracted to GH¢378.8million from GH¢403.2million as the company deliberately scaled back lending to focus on asset quality.

Management has set a year-end NPL target of 14 to 15 percent, to be achieved through improved legal recoveries on secured SME collateral, alternative collection methods for payroll borrowers who have emigrated and growth in the denominator as short-tenure digital products cycle rapidly through the loan book.

Regulatory transition and capitalisation

Izwe is also navigating a sector-wide regulatory reform issued by the BoG requiring non-bank financial institutions to recapitalise and transition into defined categories by the end of 2026.

The company expects to be classified as a microfinance bank, a designation that carries a minimum capital requirement of GH¢50million for existing institutions. Izwe’s total equity at year end stood at GH¢73.5million, placing it above that threshold – though the figure includes statutory and credit risk reserves.

“We just need to improve on our business activities to ensure that at the end of this year we are still able to keep a structure which gives us enough capital to transform into the microfinance bank category,” Mr. Bismarck said. An internal working group has been constituted to manage the transition and present proposals to the board.

Capital adequacy ended the year at 11.2 percent, above the regulatory minimum of 10 percent.

Looking ahead, the Izwe Ghana CEO said payroll lending –  historically the core of Izwe’s business – will continue, but on a highly selective basis following changes in the market environment.

A third listed note programme is planned for the third quarter of 2026. The company’s second GH¢150million programme has been fully utilised, with the remaining GH¢50million issued days before the GSE session.

“The next phase of the Izwe enterprise is moving into the stage of delivering digital products to small and medium enterprises, supporting them to grow their businesses. It is part of the progress that these individuals and entities have set out to achieve,” he said.

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