Shareholders’ funds of the 23 banks operating in the country grew by 21.2% to GH¢22.2 billion as at the end of February 2021. This is compared with a 14.6% growth a year earlier. According to the Banking Sector Development report, this reinforces the stability and resilience of the banking sector. The report said the sustained growth in banks’ total net worth was...
The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari, says the regulatory environment for fintech has been revamped to ensure a more competitive and innovative industry. Speaking at the second edition of the Mobile Technology for Development Conference 2021, the Deputy Governor said this has better positioned the fintech industry to serve the diverse digital financial services needs of individuals, businesses,...
Maxwell Opoku-Afari, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, has warned that the inability of businesses to incorporate and embrace digitalisation in their business models will undoubtedly create a void with dire consequences for the survivability of businesses during a post-pandemic. According to him, this can be deduced from the fact that in spite of the tremendous achievements towards...
Banking consultant, Dr Richmond Atuahene, has urged local banks in the country to be prudent in their risk assessment to improve on their non-performing loans. His call follows the comparably better performance of foreign-owned banks to local banks between the years 2019 and 2020. Data from the financial statements of some leading banks in the country for the year ended 2020,...
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has revealed that over 4, 000 incidents of cyber fraud cases have been flagged and are currently under investigation. According to its Chief Executive, Ken Ashigbey, the cases were recorded during the pilot stage of the Fraudulent Control Dashboard to combat cyber fraud activities. He further indicated that the chamber is working with all stakeholders, including...
In terms of asset quality, the report said the covid-19 pandemic-induced loan repayment challenges and slowdown in credit growth continues to impact the quality of assets within the banking sector. Although the negative impact on asset quality seemed to have declined slightly in the second-half of 2020, supported by reliefs provided by banks, a marginal deterioration in asset quality was...
First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari has indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has tested the effectiveness and resilience of Ghana’s financial inclusion efforts. But the BoG, he said, adopted measures to swiftly respond to the policy gap exposed by the virus. In general, he added, the strategies and the specific COVID-19 interventions have...
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced the launch of the Fraud Control Dashboard, an initiative by mobile network operators (MNOs), the central bank and the police to tackle the rising incidence of fraudulent activities in mobile money operations. Dr. Bawumia, who was speaking at the opening of the second edition of the Mobile Technology for Development (MT4D) conference...
The Ghana Association of Bankers has intensified calls by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to all persons with dormant accounts to reactivate their accounts. BoG, last month, issued a directive on unclaimed balances and dormant accounts for banks and specialized deposit-taking institutions. The directive sought to ensure that balances in accounts that have been left unattended to for over a period...
A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr Elikplimi Komla Agloyor has warned Ghanaian investors to resist investing in portfolios that offer extreme returns. According to him, extreme returns come with extreme risks which lure investors into schemes where they risk losing their entire investment. He explained that as Treasury bills currently offer 20% interest yearly, any debt...
