Monthly Archives - October 2020

Twenty out of 24 banks in Ghana paid GRA GHS1.6 billion as corporate tax in 2019

Twenty (20) out of the twenty (24) banks licensed in Ghana by Bank of Ghana in 2019, paid a total direct tax of GHS1.6 billion, which also include the five per cent national fiscal stabilization levy to Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the agency mandated by law to assess collect and account for tax revenue on behalf of government. This GHS1.6...

GhIPSS introduces Near Real Time Bulk Payments Service

The Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), in collaboration with all banks, has introduced a new service on the existing ACH Direct Credit (DC) platform.Known as ‘ACH DC Near Real Time (NRT)’, the new product allows corporate institutions to make bulk payments faster and almost in real time.ACH DC is a secure and reliable bulk payments service,...

6 banks start Gh QR Code deployment

Ghana has moved forward in its agenda to digitise the economy and to ensure a cashless system by making payment for goods and services more accessible through a universal Gh QR code as some banks starting its deployment. The banks offering the service are Ecobank, GCB Bank, Zenith Bank, Bank of Africa, Fidelity Bank and Agriculture Development Bank. The remaining banks...

NIB must focus on its mandate to stay competitive and profitable

Banking Consultant, Nana Otuo Acheampong, has expressed optimism about the prospects of the National Investment Bank, NIB, following government’s injection of GH¢800 million into its operations to help close its capital deficit. The injection of funds, which is in the form of a bond issued to the bank earlier in August this year, is part of efforts to make the...

We’ve not exceeded our financing limit to the budget – BoG

The Bank of Ghana (BoG), has told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that it has significantly reduced its support to the budget in compliance with the directive that placed a cap on the bank’s financing At the PAC sitting on Wednesday, September 2, First Deputy Governor of the BoG, Dr. Maxwell Opoku Afari, said they are fully complying with the directive. “A cap was...

Editorial: Financial sector cleanup yields dividend for corporate governance

President Akufo-Addo paid a working visit to the central bank on Tuesday where Governor Dr Ernest Addision noted that financial sector clean-up has resulted in a stable financial sector with fewer banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) that are well capitalised, liquid, and solvent, and better able to support the nation’s economic growth agenda. Dr. Addison further stated that the...

Receiver struggles to retrieve records of 35 defunct financial institutions to validate GHS252M claims

The Receiver of the 347 defunct Microfinance companies, 23 Savings and Loans and Finance Houses, Eric Nana Nipah, says he is unable to undertake a detailed asset tracing of 35 resolved companies to enable him validate and settle claims of depositors under the Depositor Payment Scheme. According to him, he is still working with the Economic and Organised Crime Office...

Average lending rates down1.16%

AVERAGE lending rates have eased downward by 1.16 percent, from 23.11 percent in June 2019 to 21.95 percent in June 2020. According to the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Developments report, the average rate on 3-month term deposits however remained unchanged at 11.50 percent.It said the general decline in nominal interest rates and the recent jump in inflation pushed real interest...

We’ve paid all depositors of collapsed banks – BoG Governor

Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison has rejected claims that depositors who had their monies locked up with the collapsed banks have not been paid. Dr. Addison said all customers of the nine collapsed banks have been paid their locked-up funds. He was speaking at a meeting with President Nana Akufo-Addo after the latter’s working visit to the...

Bank cleanup: We saved deposits of 4.6m people – Bawumia

The cleanup exercise undertaken by the Bank of Ghana in the banking sector save the deposits of 4.6 million people, which would have been lost had the central bank not intervened, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said. “You had 4.6 million depositors whose monies were at stake. Can you imagine that these 4.6 million depositors will lose their monies...