Development Bank will complement, strengthen existing financial institutions

Professor Peter Quartey, Head of the lnstitute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), says the National Development Bank (NDG) will complement and strengthen the operations of existing financial institutions.
He said the Development Bank would provide more funds, technical support and training, among others, to aid economic growth.

Prof Quartey was speaking at a development dialogue organised by ISSER on the topic ‘National Development Banks and Sustainable Financing in Ghana’, in Accra.
The Head of ISSER, speaking on the topic ‘The synergies among new national development bank’, said the NDB would deepen financial intermediation, which would propel industry growth, NDB activities and returns.
He said the NDB, in applying the wholesale model (EximBank, Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), National Investment Bank (NIB), Fintech), could serve more end-customers and cover more locations without incurring high operating costs.
He said the wholesale model proposed by the NDB would promote the growth of private financial intermediaries that become the arms of NDB, thereby reaching underserved sectors and clients.
“The private financial institution that intermediates the NDB’s funds will partially absorb some of the credit risk of the NDB,” he said.
However, Prof Quartey said interest rates for end-customers may be higher because private financial institutions passed on their cost of financial intermediation, plus any other margins.
He said the NDB would neither provide retail nor direct business loans to economic actors but through NIB, ADB and Eximbank.
He said the development banks, when in operation, would fill the gap of nominating directors to companies, deploying in-house expertise, underwriting and issuance of equity, and playing counter-cyclical roles, sustaining overall investment levels and protecting the productive structure of the economy.
The Head of ISSER said the bank would serve as a source of investment funds for commercial banks in the country and provide state-of-the-art medium and long-term financing instruments for specific sectors of the economy, with much focus on the agricultural and industrial sectors.
It would also strengthen many businesses to grow and expand by injecting extra capital into the agricultural and industrial sectors through their respective designated banks.
He said the NDB was expected to improve the balance of trade position of the country by generating more exports and encouraging import substitution, encouraging innovative technology and improving managerial skills within the private sector through training.
Prof Quartey said the NDB would certainly provide long-term finance to economic actors and stimulate growth and would work closely with Exim Bank, ADB and NIB, with reciprocal benefits to these actors.

He said when it comes to synergies, there would be intermediation of NDB funds to end users, absorbing credit risks, providing equity, technical support and skills training and financial deepening, financial sector growth and growth of NDB.
He said the success of the Development Bank would depend on employing competent managers, operated as a business and devoid of excessive political interference.
“We should strengthen regulation to avoid another financial sector clean-up (2000, 2017, 2034?),” he added.
Dr Vera Fiador, lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, speaking on the successful approaches and future of national development banks, said there should be the need to look at the market failures that had to be addressed and the best way to go about it.
She said “we also need to interrogate some of the tested methods that have actually worked to the success of some of the development banks.”

Source: Finderonline