Business News of Monday, 5 November 2018
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2018-11-05
Elsie Awadzi, Deputy Governor,Bank of Ghana
Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Ministry of Finance have through their interventions in the financial sector, protected about GH?11 billion in customer deposits, including deposits and placements of other financial institutions, Second Deputy Governor of BoG Elsie Awadzi has said.
Speaking at the JoyBusiness Financial Services Forum in Accra, Elsie Awadzi said, “After saving deposits of about GH?11 billion in the banking sector, you still see some deposits in the savings and loans wondering, well, are we going to be ok? What would have happened if we hadn’t saved those?”
According to her, “BoG’s actions against the failed banks and government’s decision to guarantee the deposits of the seven banks and the creation of CBG have helped to mitigate what could have been severe adverse consequences from these failures.
When banks fail, there are usually a lot of casualties which, if not well managed, could lead to significant problems for the financial sector and the economy.”
Speaking under the theme, ‘The changing tide in Ghana’s financial services sector, the cause, the cost, the clean-up’, Mrs Awadzi said the banking sector reforms have boosted the confidence of local and international investors and other market players in the BoG’s role as regulator, and have contributed to the recent upgrades to Ghana’s credit rating from S&P from B- to B.
Job losses
The Second Deputy Governor said, “The interventions of the BoG and Ministry of Finance (MoF) minimized job losses by saving some 3,500 or 70% of approximately 5000 employees of the defunct banks.”
What is next for BoG?
Mrs Awadzi said, “We are working with all stakeholders to rebuild confidence in our banking sector. There are great opportunities ahead for the industry to drive Ghana’s economic growth agenda, and we expect to see banks positioning themselves for these opportunities.
Following the new regulatory requirements we have introduced, we expect to see better-capitalized banks, more transparency in the quality of assets held by banks, stronger corporate governance and risk management practices, and a new focus on maintaining the confidence of customers.”
Regulations
She added, “On our part, we are strengthening our regulatory and supervisory capacity through improved systems, processes, accountability, and training, to enable our supervision staff better monitor banks’ performance and conduct and ensure that banks take prompt corrective action to address emerging risks.
We are moving ahead with implementation of the deposit protection scheme established under the Ghana Deposit Protection Act, 2016 (Act 931) as amended, to provide a safety net for vulnerable depositors in the event of a bank failure.”