Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has disclosed that government is planning to make Accra a financial hub to attract major banks in West Africa to site their headquarters in Ghana.
Currently, the African Development Bank has its headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, while Ecobank has its headquarters in Lome, Togo.
Speaking at a ceremony to showcase the architectural design of the Redevelopment of the Trade Fair Center, Mr. Ofori-Atta was hopeful Ghana is strategically positioned to attract all the major financial houses in the sub-region to site their headquarters in Accra.
He cited for example that such a location will provide a one-stop-shop for major banks in the West African region to smoothly transact businesses.
“The expectation in the years coming is that we are already working on the Ghana Financial Services Center. Imagine I create a financial sector hub here where all the Nigeria banks would be headquartered here,” he said, adding that the move will also accelerate government’s drive of achieving the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid agenda’.
Mr. Ofori-Atta stated that Ghana is strategically positioned in West Africa, making it easy to move from Accra to Lagos and Abidjan in about 45 minutes.
He observed that this makes the country a preferred zone to host all major banks in the sub-region in Accra to serve the financial needs of West African countries.
He stated that the government is planning the financial hub that will have schools, reliable power supply and security.