George Ofori, GUTA president
The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has backed the decision of Agriculture Development Bank (adb) to make an initial public offer (IPO) on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to raise more funds to boost its operations.
According to GUTA’s President, George Kwaku Ofori, ‘Banking is very important to us as traders and businessmen. This is a proactive step and we support wholeheartedly any move that would ensure the efficiency of adb.’
Mr Ofori disclosed this to the media in Accra after a stakeholder consultation between the association and the bank’s management.
ADB is gearing up to raise some GH¢300 million to revamp its operations and make it relevant to all sectors of the country’s economy.
Mr Ofori said GUTA had fruitful deliberations with the management of the bank and that it was particularly happy about the bank’s module for Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SME) to enable them assess credit to grow their businesses.
‘It is an ideal situation that the bank is consulting with us, and get our input in the improvement of the bank’s portfolio of services. We are looking forward to enhance our services, as the bank seeks to improve the profitability of its operations.
‘We all own this bank, and it must be efficient. Efficiency is what we want as business people and we would buy into any efficient financial institution,’ Mr Ofori said.
Stephen Kporzdi, Managing Director of adb, explained that with its current ownership structure as a state-owned institution, adb was unable to access medium and long-term funds from international financial institutions like IFC, among others.
He urged members to support the Initial Public Offering (IPO) since that would boost the capacity of the financial institution.
Currently, Bank of Ghana (BoG) owns 48 percent of adb, with the rest being owned by Government.
BoG is offsetting all its shares because it cannot be a regulator and operator at the same time.
Government also seeks to reduce its shares in the bank.
By Cephas Larbi
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