Banks begin to form mergers

Some banks, which have not yet met the minimum capital requirement of GH¢400 million, have begun taking steps to form mergers in order to continue to stay in business.

According to Yaw Osafo Maafo, Senior Minister, the move would help consolidate Ghana’s financial sector and provide a major boost for big ticket transactions.

Speaking at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank breakfast meeting yesterday in Accra, Mr Osafo Maafo averred: “Many of the banks are meeting it. Some of the banks are coming together, according to the Bank of Ghana, to form single banks to meet the requirement.

“It’s better to own 50 percent of a thousand than to own 50 percent of nothing.”

Though the Central Bank has not named the banks, it said about 15 out of the 32 banks operating in the country were putting finishing touches to their recapitalization moves by December this year.

The fate of the remaining 17 remains unknown for now.

At the July Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) news conference in Accra on July 23, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, said data available to his outfit showed that Ghana could have at least 15 banks by December, this year all things being equal.