Today's Ghana Business, Banking and Economic news

Professor Godfred Bokpin, an economist says the apparent delay in announcing the decision to resort to merger talks could make some uncertain clients withdraw their money at Energy Commercial bank and First Atlantic Bank.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of United Bank for Africa Plc, has met the Bank of Ghana’s new minimum capital requirements ahead of the set deadline of December 31, 2018.

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The Managing Director (MD) of the bank, Mrs. Abiola Bawuah, who announced this at the weekend said: “Last year, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) came out with a new capital requirement for all banks to meet a minimum paid-up capital of GH¢400 million by December 2018.

I am happy to announce that as of September 2018, UBA Ghana met the GH¢400 million capital requirement,” she said.

In a release issued in Accra, Mrs. Bawuah said the strong third quarter performance of the bank impacted on the bank’s ability to meet the new capital requirement of the central bank.

She said the bank once again posted a strong profit before tax of GH¢172 million while its profit after tax stood at GH¢ 128 million, reflecting the resilience of the bank’s profitability in the face of increasing competition.

According to her, the bank’s key profitability ratios for the period were also impressive with return on average equity of 29 percent and return on average assets of 5.3 percent, a testament to the efficiency of the bank’s operations.

READ MORE: BoG: New rules set out on related-party lending by banks

She added that during the period, the bank’s total assets increased by 19 percent to close at GH¢3.5 billion while the capital adequacy ratio of 30 percent was also well above the regulatory requirement.

The MD further stated that the bank would continue to grow its balance sheet in an efficient manner, with the renewed focus on mobilizing low-cost stable deposits by leveraging the bank’s digital channels.

Mrs. Bawuah stated that the bank would focus on taking banking to its valued customers through innovative technology.



Managing Director(MD) of UBA, Mrs. Abiola Bawuah

“Once the capital requirement is taken care of, we are focused on bringing value to our customers and staff.

“As a customer-centric bank, we are focused on taking banking to our valued customers through innovative technology, our next technological approach will take Ghana by storm,” she said.

The MD indicated that the bank would continue to create better working conditions for staff and give back to society through CSR activities such as Read Africa and National Essay competition which was changing lives through education.

We can consummate more and bigger transactions, so we expect that next year by this time; our performance financially should be fantastic in our tailor-made solutions for customers.”

Beyond its 28 fully networked branches spread across most parts of the country, Mrs. Bawuah stated that plans were underway to open more branches in the remaining regions of the country.

“We are growing rapidly and coming to a region near you.

The coming year will have UBA Ghana expand steadily to various regions of Ghana.I can assure Ghanaians that we have a plan to be in all the 10 regions,” she said.

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First Atlantic bank and Energy bank have begun merger talks in order to raise the 400 million cedis minimum capital requirement for banks.

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Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and National Investment Bank (NIB) proposed merger is emerging that it may not come off following a recapitalization plan outlined by ADB.

The Head of Global Market at Stanbic Bank Ghana, Mrs. Afua Bulley, has expressed the bank’s willingness to support its regulator, the central bank(BoG), to have the right legal and regulatory framework to keep the industry moving.

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Fairtrade International, a non-profit organization says they will raise the floor price and fixed premium it requires companies to pay cocoa farmers for their beans under its scheme.

A former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) Tsatsu Tsikata has called for more investment into Ghana’s upstream sector.

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has revealed the full implementation of the directive on financial holding companies, next year [2019].

Fidelity Bank has been able to meet Bank of Ghana's (BoG) GHS400m new minimum capital requirement.

Seeds for Impact Program (SIP), a programme and rolling competition that offers financial and technical assistance to seed companies and smallholder farmers across Africa, was successfully launched in West Africa by AECF in partnership with Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) at a cocktail reception in Accra on the 27th of November, 2018.

Phase Two of the Mobile Money Interoperability platform has been launched by the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in Accra.

Mrs Jemimah Oware who is the Registrar-General has disclosed that the Tax Identification Number (TIN) will no longer be a prerequisite for the upfront registration of a business, beginning from January 2019.

Domestic processing of cocoa hit 300,000 tonnes in the 2017/2018 cocoa season, a 19 percent jump from the 252,000 tonnes processed the previous season.