Finance Minister launches uniCredit Ghana Limited

Accra, Oct. 22, GNA - uniCredit Ghana Limited, a non-bank financial institution, was officially launched at a ceremony on Thursday with a call on both bank and non-bank financial institutions to help mobilize resources for the development of the country.

Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, who made the call, said mobilizing domestic resources and providing realistic and attractive financial products to individuals, small and medium scale enterprises was very crucial for meeting the country's development aspirations.

Known formerly as Kantamanto Savings and Loans Company Limited, uniCredit Ghana Limited was licensed by the Bank of Ghana in 1995 to operate as a non-banking financial institution under the financial institutions (Non-Banking) Law, 1993 (PNDC 328).

It changed its name from Kantamanto Savings and Loans Company Limited to uniCredit Ghana Limited in 2007. Dr Duffuor, whose speech was read for him, reiterated government's commitment to creating and maintaining an enabling environment for the financial sector development aimed at stimulating growth and market demand for financial services to support accelerated poverty reduction. He lauded the emergence of uniCredit Ghana Limited onto the financial landscape, saying there was still a significant potential market to exploit, especially in the informal sector in urban, metropolitan and municipal areas where economic activity was expanding.

The Minister urged the company to take the principles of accessibility, security, convenience, and simplicity very seriously in the delivery of its services.

He expressed the hope that uniCredit would focus attention on the informal sector to enable it to mobilize resources to support their activities to facilitate the much needed growth and development of the economy.

Dr Kofi Wampah, First Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said the formal banking system had shied away from the poor and the vulnerable because the perception that doing business with them was risky.

This, invariably, has hampered the growth of the informal sector, where a significant proportion of the populace operates.

Dr Wampah advised uniCredit not to be complacent but to manage its portfolio in an efficient manner such that they could serve as catalysts to meeting the development objective of the country. Mr Stephen Ameyaw, Managing Director uniCredit, said the main objective of the company was to provide attractive financial services, such as deposit and credit delivery to individuals, micro, small, and medium enterprises that would otherwise be ignored by banks and other financial institutions. 22 Oct. 09