The Bank of Ghana has once again assured Ghanaians not to panic, in the midst of the current banking turbulence, indicating that the banks are well capitalized.
In an interview at the annual journalist for business advocacy media training workshop held in Accra on Thursday, the Special Advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Ben Amoah said, “there is no need to panic; the banks are well capitalized, and are liquid, including good practices in place.”
Industry data as at the last monetary policy committee meeting indicated that the banking system continues to be profitable, sound and well- capitalized.
Total industry assets increased by 39.7 percent to GH¢44.2 billion in July 2018. Of this total, advances constituted 45.8 percent. More so, the industry’s capital adequacy ratio of 19.1 percent remained significantly above the prudential requirement of 10.0 percent.
Dr. Amoah stated that the banks are profitable and are into good business, adding, “don’t panic and put undue pressure on them. When you need your funds, go there, they have monies for you; but if you don’t need the money, don’t queue to withdraw. If we all do that no bank in the world can survive.
Hence, it is not necessary for all customers of a bank to go for their deposits in a day, since the biggest bank can’t survive that”, he noted.
Capitalization
Dr. Amoah expressed optimism of a well-capitalized banking system by the end of the year, insisting that deadline for the GH¢ 400 million capital requirement would not be extended.
“Those who have not yet met it, have submitted a recapitalization programme, which they are implementing and they are doing very well,” he said.
As at September this year, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison hinted that 19 banks are expected to meet the minimum capital requirement by the end of this year.
However, seven banks including, the Consolidated bank, Republic bank, Access bank, Zenith Bank, Barclays Bank, Ecobank Ghana as well as GCB Bank, have already met the target with others undertaking various measures to recapitalize.
Training
In a speech read by Dr. Amoah, on behalf of the First Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana, Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari, said as innovation deepens and the banking sector evolves with more complex products, journalists would need to keep in tune with these changing developments.
He added this developments would require a constant training and re-training in order to understand and effectively report on the new developments.
Hence, the training program will go a long way in sharpening the financial reporting skill of journalists in the country, he stated.
By Joshua W. Amlanu
