Business News of Friday, 23 March 2018
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2018-03-23
Collapsed UT Bank former CEO, Prince Kofi Amoabeng
The President of UT Holdings, Mr Prince Kofi Amoabeng, says he has learnt a lot of lessons from the collapse of UT Bank and would bounce back stronger.
Mr Amoabeng revealed that though the revoking of the bank’s license came as a shock to him and management of the bank, there still are lessons to be learned.
“I don’t feel too bad about it, I think it’s the state institutions that are working. There’s a bit about the process which I felt wasn’t necessary. There’s been a lot of lessons learned and I hope to bounce back stronger,” the former UT Bank CEO said on the sidelines of the Margins Youth Empowerment Awards Ceremony in Accra.
The Central Bank, in August 2017, revoked the licenses of UT and Capital Bank to operate as commercial banks due to their excessive liabilities and failure to improve their balance sheet.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, blamed the lack of good corporate governance for the collapse of UT and Capital Bank.
According to Dr Addisson, the defunct UT Bank could have survived the collapse if management minimized risks and improved loan performance.
In his reaction seven months after the closure of his bank, in a radio interview with Accra based Joy FM on Thursday, Mr Amoabeng said many lessons have been learnt and he has taken it within his stride and he will do something else.
“In life, you never stop learning so anything which happens, reflect on it and move on.”
To a question on whether he hopes to come back Mr Amoabeng said: “I certainly will come back, I,m Johnnie Walker, I keep walking.”
Asked whether he was working or unemployed, “it doesn’t really matter now because I’m passed retiring age so I’m a pensioner who keeps walking.”
Sharing his impressions on the managerial takeover of uniBank, Mr Amoabeng described the takeover as “worrying” saying the regulator could have explored other options.
“I think it’s a bit worrying with Unibank coming on the heels of UT and Capital Bank…I think it’s better sometimes to take positive action and air things out and solve it than keep things under the rug,” Mr Amoabeng said.