The Bank of Ghana has been advised to stop granting banking license to politicians and politically exposed persons since that is dangerous and has the potential to destabilize the stability in the banking sector. Such people, a financial expert has argued, do not operate or manage their bank under strict regimes.
A financial expert, Dr Richmond Atuahene, has cautioned the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to purge politically exposed persons from being appointed as board members since it also has a negative effect on the operations of the banks. He said the presence of such persons lead to politicization of banking operations.
Dr Atuahene also called on the BoG to abolish the non-executive appointments on boards of banks since that is not relevant.
“Most of the people appointed to none executive positions do not know anything about banking, accounting or finance and come in to disrupt progress. They come and create problems for the banks,“ he stated.
“We need to sanitize the banking sector. In Nigeria for instance, you can’t just appoint anybody into a board of a bank or a financial institution. Such a person appointed must be certified and must be a member of a reputable institution or independent body that has no political colour. If we don’t sanitize the system we will face major problems. Such people are a nuisance to the banking sector” he said.
Meanwhile, an investment analyst, Yaw Kyei in an interview said there is no definition for politically exposed persons in either the banking act or the company code. “What they forbid are persons with bankruptcy records, Lunatics and ex-convicts. If the person falls outside that group , he can hold position in a bank. Politics is relative as you know. There are gurus behind the scenes who have much influence than those you call politically exposed persons,” he stated.
By Adu Koranteng
