News

Apex Bank secures 8 million dollars to roll out agency banking

The ARB Apex Bank has secured eight  million dollars in grant from the World Bank to roll out agency banking operations to expand rural and community banking. The agency banking module is expected to rope in more than 1,000 agents across the country, offering a host of benefits to boost rural and community banks (RCBs) operations. Starting next year, the project...

Banks post GHS2.83 billion profit as reforms take effect

The country’s banking sector is churning out more profit following the regulator’s decision to introduce a number of reforms to strengthen the sector. The Bank of Ghana’s latest banking sector report revealed that as of October 2019, banks in the country made a total profit of GHS2.83 billion which was a 45.3 percent increase in the figure recorded same period...

BoG Touts Financial Sector Clean-Up

THE CENTRAL Bank has reiterated that the benefits of the financial sector clean up far exceeded any harm that may have been caused.Research Director at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Philip Abradu-Otoo, who spoke on behalf of the Governor of BoG, at a forum organized by the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG), recently in Ho, said the...

Crane Currency of USA printed GH¢200, GH¢100 notes

It has emerged that Crane Currency, a currency and security printing company in the United States of America (USA), printed the newly introduced GH¢200 and GH¢100 banknotes for the country. Information available to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS indicated that Crane Currency, which prides itself as being in the currency business for over 200 years, won the bid from the Bank of...

Banks must verify background of employees to curb rising fraud

The Head of the Financial Integrity Office at the Bank of Ghana, George Nkrumah, is urging financial institutions to ensure strict compliance with employee background checks as a way of minimizing fraud perpetuated by employees. “When you are employing, you have to do Know Your Employee (KYE ). Know the person you are recruiting. Make sure you do a verification...

Sanitising the banking sector important for building confidence

The step by the Government to clean up the financial sector could generate negative reactions at the beginning; but result in confidence in the sector, subsequently, Mr Hakim Ouzzani, the Managing Director of Societe Generale (SG) Ghana has said. The reforms, he said, would strengthen the sector and instill more hope and trust in the public for the sector to...

BoG directs banks to build profile of borrowers

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has directed all banks to develop and build credit profiles of their customers to help the banks price their loans appropriately. The measure is aimed at deepening transparency in the determination of the lending rates of banks to bring down interest charges on loans. It is also expected to provide borrowers with a more informed basis...

‘Cyber fraudsters keep targeting banking sector

Mr George Nkrumah, Head Anti-Money Laundering Office, Financial Stability Department, Bank of Ghana (BoG), has said over the past three years, Ghana had lost about US$200 Million to cyber-crime. The cyber fraudsters keep targeting the activities in the banking sector, he said, adding that neither would the security agencies relent in monitoring and forestalling their activities. Mr Nkrumah said financial institutions...

CEOs divided over impact of financial sector clean-up —OBG survey

A new survey conducted by the Oxford Business Group (OBG) has shown that almost 44 percent of CEOs are positive about a good outcome of the banking sector reforms undertaken by the Bank of Ghana in 2018. The survey also showed that 43 percent of the CEOs also expressed negative sentiments about the banking sector clean-up. Speaking to journalists after releasing...

Banks to develop framework on risk premium build-up

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has initiated steps to ensure that banks do not pass on their operational inefficiencies and overhead costs to their clients. To this end, it said it would align compensation with overall bank performance by linking it to clear parameters including the quality of a bank’s assets. This among others was to boost credit delivery and improve...