President Akufo Addo has stated that his vision for the banking sector is to have few but stronger local banks which can compete with their foreign counterparts.
He has disputed claims suggesting that the administration is looking at creating avenues for foreign banks to thrive at the expense of local ones.
Many arguments seeking the interest of local banks have been put across following the revocation of licenses of seven local banks over the past one year.
But speaking to the Ghanaian community in Rwanda, the President stressed that the new path should rather build a robust economy.
“The kind of process we are going through in Ghana when it took place in Nigeria has brought them down to about fourteen banks. There are now some of the biggest banks not just in Nigeria but in Africa; they are all over the place like Access, Zenith, UBA, among others,” he emphasized.
The President added, “And it is the process of consolidation and rationalization of the sector that took place in Nigeria under the central bank governor, Sanusi. We want to undertake that same exercise in Ghana so that at the end of the process, we can have few and strong banks, even if they are few, then we know they can compete the stronger foreign ones.”
From August 2017 to August 2018, seven banks the Beige Bank, uniBank, UT, Capital, Sovereign, Construction and Royal banks have had their licenses revoked.
The central bank has cited the managers of the bank for several breaches of the regulation guiding banks in Ghana.
The Bank of Ghana pumped more than ¢2billion to support uniBank founded by a former governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Kwabena Duffour.
As it stands now, the consolidated bank is expected to let go about 1,700 workers out of the 3,700 staff it absorbed from the five banks.
Already it is emerging that the Consolidated bank will collapse about 98 branches out of the 191 branches it took over from the collapsed banks.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana