A former Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr Adu Anane-Antwi has stated that some bank mergers may suffer setbacks due to lack of trust.
According to him, the lack of trust among businesses and companies in Ghana is a major challenge to the industry.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison this week announced that the central bank has received some proposals from banks pushing for mergers and takeovers, following the announcement of the new capital requirement.
The Bank of Ghana increased the capital requirement of banks from 120 million cedis to 400 million cedis in September 2017.
The increment was applauded by some financial observers as a good development that may force mergers in the banking industry to reduce the growing number of banks in the country.
Touching on the issue, Dr. Anane-Antwi said the lack of corporate governance may push some banks to conceal some critical information that may affect the mergers.
“We have always talked about mergers and acquisitions even straight from table top businesses. I discussed this with a friend who said ‘ I can assure you mergers and acquisition will never be prominent in Ghana because we don’t trust each other’. We have lived for sixty years but still no trust so everybody wants to deal with their individual businesses. What belongs to me is not the same as what belongs to us” he said.
He pointed out that mergers among local businesses have suffered setbacks due to breach of trust and dishonesty.
“As soon as you come together, within three weeks there is a problem. So capital reason is supposed to help people merge”.
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By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
