Burkinabe billionaire Idrissa Nassa's Coris Bank posts $106 million nine-month profit

Coris Bank International, the Burkina Faso lender founded by billionaire Idrissa Nassa, raised its profit by 17.8% in the first nine months of 2026 as customer deposits jumped by more than a quarter and its shares nearly tripled on the regional stock exchange.

Net profit rose to 62.34 billion CFA francs ($106 million) in the nine months to Sept. 30, from about 52.9 billion CFA francs ($90 million) a year earlier, according to results the bank published on Oct. 29. Profit before tax climbed 23.9% to 71.9 billion CFA francs ($123 million), and net banking income, the main measure of a bank's revenue in French-speaking Africa, increased 14.9% to 116.37 billion CFA francs ($199 million).

The bank earned about 20.7 billion CFA francs ($35 million) in the third quarter, after booking 41.68 billion CFA francs in the first half, when profit grew 23.5%.

Deposits grow faster than loans

Customer deposits rose 26.4% from a year earlier to 2.37 trillion CFA francs ($4.05 billion) at the end of September, an increase of nearly 496 billion CFA francs. Net loans to customers grew more slowly, rising 15.2% to 1.39 trillion CFA francs ($2.37 billion), which cut the bank's ratio of net loans to deposits to 58.4% from 64.1%.

Management said higher interest margins and stronger fee and commission income drove the rise in revenue. The bank also reported income from selling stakes in some subsidiaries but did not say how much those sales added to profit. In the first half, net gains on fixed assets reached 6.44 billion CFA francs, compared with 69 million CFA francs a year earlier, equal to about 13.6% of pre-tax profit for the period.

The bank said the quality of its loan book improved and that its coverage of impaired loans increased. It did not publish the ratios behind those statements. In the first half, its cost of risk rose 48% to 8.29 billion CFA francs ($14 million).

Shares nearly triple

Investors have bid up the stock far faster than earnings. Coris Bank shares closed at 31,900 CFA francs on Oct. 29 on the BRVM, the regional stock exchange in Abidjan that serves eight West African countries. That is a gain of 195.9% since the end of 2025, compared with a 52.8% rise in the exchange's composite index over the same period. The bank traded at 15.59 times earnings, based on BRVM data.

With 32 million shares outstanding, the rally gives Coris Bank a market value of about 1.02 trillion CFA francs ($1.74 billion).

Shareholders have also received larger payouts. Coris Bank earned a record 65.49 billion CFA francs ($112 million) in 2025, up 37%, and paid a net dividend of 900 CFA francs a share in June, up from 555 CFA francs a year earlier. The total payout came to 28.8 billion CFA francs ($49 million).

Nassa's banking group

Nassa founded Coris Bank in Ouagadougou in 2008 and controls it through Coris Holding, which owned 63.6% of the Burkinabe bank in 2024. Coris Holding has built one of the largest banking groups in French-speaking West Africa, with banks in all eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union and in Guinea. Mediterrania Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on Africa, agreed in October 2025 to lead a €100 million investment in Coris Holding to fund the group's regional growth.

The group is now pushing into Central Africa. Coris entered Chad in 2025 by buying Société Générale's 67.8% stake in its local unit, and on Oct. 29 it launched Baraka, its Islamic banking service, in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena. Coris has said it plans to expand into Gabon and Cameroon and is studying the Central African Republic.

Figures were converted at 586 CFA francs to the dollar.