Bolgatanga Central MP, Isaac Adongo, has accused Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of working together with the Bank of Ghana and the Security and Exchange Commission, to collapse banks that are competing with Databank in the financial sector.

Mr Ofori-Atta is the founder of Databank.

Mr Adongo made the comment in an interview with Valentina Ofori Afriyie on Class91.3FM’s 5O5 news programme on Wednesday, 1 August 2018 following the announcement by the Bank of Ghana that it had merged five local banks into a Consolidated Bank.

Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison said the merger of The Royal Bank, BEIGE Bank, Sovereign Bank, Construction Bank and uniBank, was part of moves to streamline the financial sector, but Mr Adongo disagrees.

In the opposition lawmaker’s view, the move is an attempt to get rid of Databank’s competitors.

The lawmaker said: “The Bank of Ghana through the Security and Exchanges Committee and Ken Ofori-Atta ask them: What do they want in this world? People have fought and worked for their monies and he’s now using the regulatory architecture he has to fight his competitors.

“Don’t forget that UT Bank was one of the pacesetters in the very industry Databank operates, and he [Ofori-Atta] has collapsed it. The owner comes from Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region. The second one is BEIGE Bank, another shining star with the same structure also coming from the Eastern Region is on the verge of collapse.



“uniBank, another company with similar structure and a competitor to Databank has gone down. How can he, Addison, be the one who issued the licence for Construction Bank only last year? Last year when he was issuing the licence, what was the minimum capital? What did he think was supposed to be the minimum capital that he went there and commissioned Construction Bank and one year down the line, he has collapsed that bank?

“He was the very person who issued the licence for BEIGE Bank only last year. He and the vice-president went to commission Construction Bank and BEIGE Bank and one year down the line, you say they don’t have adequate capital, only God will judge them.”