ICB opens third bank in Ghana

Mr Victor Serlomey, Deputy Minister of Finance has called on financial institutions to complement the efforts of government in controlling inflation by bringing down lending rates to a level affordable to the private sector.

Additionally, banks should package their products and make them accessible to the productive sector of the economy. He made the call in a speech read on his behalf at the opening of a branch of the International Commercial Bank (ICB) at Tema.

The opening of the bank brings to three the number opened by the ICB in the country since 1996, with the first at Makola in Accra and second at Kasoa. ICB has Malaysian investors as the owners with Mr George Koshy as the Managing Director.

Mr Serlomey stated that banking has now become more challenging and "we would expect the banks to meet globally accepted standards". They should now perceive their role not merely as ''money creators'' but also as engine of economic growth, he said, adding that the government has come a long way to establishing and restoring the image of the financial sector.

The Deputy Minister, therefore, cautioned that the economy could no longer afford to bail out inefficient banks. He cited the liquidation of the Bank for Housing and Construction and the Co-operative Bank early this year, as living testimony for financial institutions to be circumspect in their operations.

Mr Serlomey said in the late 1980's, as part of the Economic Recovery Programme, the government formed the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust, which absorbed most of the bad debts, consequently the balance sheets of those banks were cleaned. He commended the ICB for its efficient role, as it is the first bank that lifted the cost of turnover on customers' accounts popularly called Commission on Turnover (COT). It has within a few years of its operation, introduced Small-Scale Traders Loans Scheme and Small and Medium Industry Lending at relatively lower interest rates without asking for landed properties as security.

Mr Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, Head of Banking Supervision Department, Bank of Ghana said, available statistics indicate that the proportion of money outside the banking system is substantial, which requires the inculcation of banking habits into the people. There is the need to mobilise savings at all levels, develop innovative financial products and design appropriate credit schemes for small and medium scale establishments in the economy.

He said the banking environment has experienced interesting developments with the introduction of financial products and services like the use of credit, debit, ATM cards, Utility Bill Collection Scheme and transfers, among other things.