ANDANI LAUDS BoG FOR INTERVENTIONS IN BANKING SECTOR

The President of the Ghana Association of Bankers , Alhassan Andani, has described as appropriate recent interventions by the Bank of Ghana in the banking sector, especially its takeover of three indigenous banks said to be unprofitable. 

According to him, even though government or the Central bank has no justification paying off depositors’ funds when their banks fail, the regulatory organization has a duty of taking proactive steps to safeguard deposits of customers of financial institutions and to protect the industry. 

Interacting with some journalists in Kumasi, Mr. Andani, who is also the Managing Director of Standbic Bank, cautioned that the era when any individual or group considered to have the financial muscle was allowed to set up banks or financial organization must give way to new way to new means of capital formation. 

However, there must be a conscious national plan to build very robust indigenous financial institution even if it means pruning down the number of the current over 30 such banks to less than 10. 

Such properly grounded banks must then spearhead the banking and financial industry. Mr. Andani said despite the positive macroeconomic environment which is based on declining interest rates and inflation, there is a serious problem with the base of the economy saying that it is driven mainly by sectors dominated by foreign capital. 

These are the mining, telecommunication, oil and gas and others. 

This, issue, he insisted should be re-looked at critically to infuse active indigenous participation to assure of sustainable Gross Domestic Product growth.

 ‘If you go to South Africa, there are four or four local banks which are powerful, they are solid’, he asked rhetorically.