Business News of Saturday, 29 July 2017
Source: citibusinessnews.com
2017-07-29
Robert Le Hunte, MD of HFC Bank
The Board of Directors of HFC Bank have approved for the bank to be renamed Republic Bank, subject to approval by shareholders.
This was announced by the Managing Director of the Bank, Mr. Robert Le Hunte who disclosed that the approval was given to approach the shareholders of the bank on two significant matter— to increase the level of capital of the bank by 50 million cedis and, secondly to change the name of the bank to Republic Bank (Ghana) Limited in keeping with the new ownership structure.
Giving the first half year performance of the bank, Mr Le Hunte stated that the HFC bank has been able to cover 65 percent of its Non-Performing Loans(NPL) in the first half of 2017.
This, he explains is in addition to the bank declaring a profit after tax of 26.5 million cedis, representing an increase of 52 percent for the same period.
Speaking to journalists today,- 27th July 2017, Mr Le Hunte assured that the bank has returned to improving its profitability after making a loss of 80 million dollars for two years.
“After 2 years of losses and GH¢150 million in provision, HFC Bank returned to profitability producing the best first half year results in the history of their 27 years of existence.
Additionally, the Bank now boasts of having one of the highest cover ratio i.e. provision to non-performing loans of over 65% which provides the Bank with protection against future shocks going forward,” he observed.
Mr. Le Hunte attributed the good results to the hard work of the Staff and the focus on recoveries over the past two years.
Even though he admitted the work was far from over, Mr. Le Hunte also stated that the bank was now in a better position than 2 years ago when Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) took over control.
“During the two year period, over US$30 million was spent on upgrading the Information Technology infrastructure and refurbishment of the branch network.
In addition, investment was made in training and developing the Staff with the assistance of RFHL,” he said.
He stated that the bank will raise 50 million cedis from the bourse after a board is constituted for the Securities and Exchange Commission
“This new capital together with the BBB+ S&P rating of Republic Bank Limited makes the Bank one of the strongest in the industry and puts them in a better position to build on the strong foundation in the housing industry and the future prospects in the oil and gas industry,” he said.
