The National Identification Authority has begun the registration and issuance of Refugee Identity Cards to refugees living in Ghana.
The process is expected to enable refugees in the country to get access to some social services they do not currently enjoy as a result of their unregistered status.
Accessing basic services such as opening a bank account, registering SIM cards etc. is often a daunting task for refugees in the country. They have thus been calling on the government to be considered for the Ghana card ever since the exercise began, so they could live a stress-free life while in the country.
Some of the registered refugees Citi News spoke to, expressed joy and said they now feel fully integrated into the Ghanaian society.
Acting Executive Secretary for the Ghana Refugee Board, Padi Tetteh commended the registration process saying it is a step in the right direction and in accordance with international conventions.
“Due to the fact that we are signatories to the UN Refugee Convention and also the fact that we are governed by the Ghana Refugee Law, we are to ensure that refugees have access to social services, and it is important that they do so in order to allow them to earn a living.”
Padi Tetteh also revealed that 7,000 refugees are expected to be issued the card at the end of the exercise.
He was quick to clarify that the card does not grant nationality to the refugees but, it is a means to enable them to get access to decent social services and also to ensure their safety while living in Ghana.
“It is important to note that the card doesn’t grant them nationality, and they don’t have the right to vote. The only thing is that the card gives them the right to social services in order to live in safety and dignity.”
The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol outline the rights of refugees, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them, including the right to social services.
The current subject of all conversations in Ghana is increasing inflation and the fall of the cedi. Transport prices have been increased, with many Ghanaians complaining about incurring huge costs instead of gaining money when coming to work.
For weeks and months now, the value of the cedi has been decreasing constantly. As a result, everything is becoming more and more expensive. Currently, one dollar is going for 13.014 cedis. This is an improvement to the latest rate, but still, the general trend is going down.
The issue is carried mainly on the traders’ shoulders – they are the ones who people point their fingers at as soon as the prices rise. Many Ghanaians accuse them of taking advantage of the situation and adjusting their prices to margins which fit them best.
How does inflation really affect the country and its citizens? Are the traders surviving or do they need to close their shops? Samuel Eshun, host of e.tv Ghana’s ‘Fact Sheet’ show addressed the issue at hand with president of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng, who shared his thoughts on the economic situation and the performance of the cedi.
“It is my wish that we do not speculate around the dollar in a negative sense again”, Mr. Obeng said.
He explains that this negative speculation is dangerous and leads to panic buying.
The GUTA president says the government need to inspire hope in the economy to turn this speculation in a positive direction.
Another danger, in his eyes, is people profiting from the situation by putting their money in the bank in one country and taking it back in another, knowing that the rate is “lucky” for them. To prevent this, Mr. Obeng claims the Bank of Ghana could have easily dropped a directive that stops people from doing so.
GUTA has also been proposing alternative currencies to ease the pressure on the dollar. However, out of all the recommendations which were presented by the president just last week, this was the only one that he refused.
Last week, there was a discussion on a replacement of finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta. Now, the party has issued a statement to the effect that the president has agreed with them that the finance minister must be allowed to complete the IMF negotiation and to ensure that the preparation for the budget is done. Obeng claims to be neutral to this decision as long as the finance minister, new or old, inspires an improvement in the economy.
The GUTA president confirms the fact that businesses are collapsing due to the weak performance of the cedi. In the beginning of this year, one dollar was still going for 6.2 cedis. Since then, the situation has gotten drastically worse. “Businesses are collapsing, and they are collapsing fast.”
To survive as a business, he says the prevailing rate has to be benchmarked. You have to apply wisdom to your trading. This kind of forecast is very important.” He explains that you cannot simply overprize yourself out of the competition, because the customers are smart and not robots. You need to adapt to the competitors and the market.
Dr. Joseph Obeng rejects allegations that him like other businessmen are taking advantage of the situation. “It is not true, and can never be true,” he said.
Obeng emphasizes that IMF is of utmost importance to the economy. “Everything is rallied around the IMF discussion for the future of this economy.” He explains that the country suffers from a serious structural problem. To solve this, he says, “We have to be able to pinpoint the areas that are making the economy suffer. We are in a deep hole. It is not about the money that is coming. It is about the highness and the voters who are going to swallow the money.”
In his opinion, it is important to communicate clearly to IMF on where Ghana’s problems lie.
When it comes to the government, Mr. Obeng wishes for pragmatic, outside-the-box thinking to bring a solution to the people. “It is the time of the crisis that brings the best of leadership,” he said.
In the GUTA president’s opinion, we can no longer make the pandemic or the Ukraine war responsible for the economic situation.
“We are in a global village, all of us have problems.” Ghana is one of those countries in his eyes, and therefore it needs to find out where the problem is and solve it.
Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has urged managers of Ghana’s economy to as a matter of urgency begin talks with the World Bank and friendly nations for economic support even as it looks to get a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the shortest possible time.
Mr Bentil contends that the balance of payment support expected from the IMF will not be enough to deal with Ghana’s current economic crisis.
“We need more than the IMF. We need to be speaking to the world bank and friendly nations for concessionary loans to shore up the economy and then get IMF to tide us over to health. We should be speaking to them by now, IMF alone can’t help us,” he argued.
Government has had to seek an IMF bailout after months of dithering and seeking desperate to tax its way out of its inability to meet debt repayment obligations.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta who had ruled out seeking an IMF bailout is currently leading negotiations to secure some three billion dollars for the country to heal resolve balance of payment challenges.
But Mr Bentil is of the opinion that the expected there billion dollars will be insufficient given the dire straits of the country.
Ghanaians are reeling under a harsh economy that has left vulnerable households unable to meet basic daily expenditure as inflation skyrockets and the currency continues a free fall against the dollar.
The Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) is in discussions with some of its key stakeholders who are willing to invest more in the bank, the Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Nana Dwemoh Benneh, has disclosed.
He said the investment was to help the bank to build a sustainable banking model hinged on providing quality customer service to its cherished clients, some of whom had been with the bank for over 30 years.
Mr Benneh said that in an interview with the Daily Graphic to mark the 2022 Customer Service Week celebrations.
He said although the bank’s third quarter financials saw a dip in profit, the future was very bright as it still boasted of customers who continued to repose their confidence in the bank.
“Some of these customers are some of the key companies we have in the country and in the economy, so even though we have had challenges, when we look forward to how to make ourselves sustainable, there are enough opportunities that give us the confidence that the future is bright.
“In these discussions, we are speaking with a number of our stakeholders who are standing in readiness to invest more in the organisation because they know that the returns for investment into the organisation would be good,” he stated.
Faithful clients
The CEO said the bank had an anchor of clients who had still remained faithful even in times where it seemed challenging.
He said that was a demonstration that UMB was offering them something useful and beneficial.
Capital adequacy
With regard to the new capital adequacy expectations by the regulator and the threat it poses to indigenous banks, Mr Benneh said the bank had stakeholders that would stand behind the organisation by providing the resources required to ensure that it ran a sustainable business.
He said being an indigenous bank, UMB was focused on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), often labelled the engine of growth.
“The SME sector seems to connect better with indigenous banks like ourselves, and so once that aspect of the economy takes a hit, the ripple effect obviously is going to be felt by the bank as well.
“But we believe in the resilience of the Ghanaian businessman, we believe in the resilience of the local businesses,” he stated.
He said a number of these local businesses had been able to constantly pull themselves up whenever there had been challenges with the economy, and having been around since 1972 meant that the bank had been walking this path with a number of these businesses.
Digitisation
Mr Benneh said the focus of the bank’s customer service had been on how to use digital services to better serve its customers.
He said the bank recognised that financial services had now been more democratised because of the use of technology and digital services.
“You can now get basic financial services at a certain standard across the world, which means that barriers of entry in terms of competitiveness are relatively low now because everybody has access to these same systems. So the question is: how do we offer it in a different unique memorable way?
“We believe that we’ve been serving Ghana since 1972, and so we have quite a sense of how the Ghanaian business person likes to conduct their business and how they will like to access their information and how they will like to be kept abreast of systems and how they will like us to suggest things to them, so we are holding on to that niche,” he said.
Mr Benneh said the bank looked to digitisation and wanted to position itself as an aggregator of a number of fintechs and players in this area.
Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Joseph Ade Coker has revealed that the arrest of over 76 alleged illegal forex operators (black market) is not a solution to the cedi depreciation.
This statement is in line with the arrest of over seventy six (76) alleged illegal forex operators known as ‘black market’ operators in Accra.
The exercise dubbed ‘Special Operation on Foreign Exchange Parallel (Black Market Operators’ was carried out by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in conjunction with the police.
The exercise in Accra took place around Rawlings Park, Tudu, Cowlane, Circle, Kimbu Market and Lava.
According to a statement issued by the BoG, the purpose of the operation was to clamp down on individuals and entities engaging in the business of buying and selling foreign exchange without a license from Bank of Ghana in violation of Ghana’s foreign exchange laws and regulations.
The Head of the Foreign Exchange Bureau Examinations Office, at the Bank of Ghana, Adjoa Konadu Torto, indicated that the exercise would continue in other parts of the country in the coming days.
In an interview on Atinka TV’s Morning Show “Ghana Nie” with host Ekourba Gyasi, Ade Coker noted that just like corruption, the operations of the ‘black market’ has been a part of the forex business from time immemorial.
Ade Coker hinted that if the foreign currencies are available at the forex bureaus, the black market will become “useless”.
“When the fundamentals are wrong, your foreign exchange will expose you. That is the truth of the matter. The forex business is run on a supply and demand basis, and these black market men give good rates. That is why people patronize them.
“It is a matter of making the currency available. If foreign currencies are always available at good rates, no one will patronize the services of these black marketers. “Some bank officials even direct clients to the black market,” Ade Coker added.
The founder of the defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien and two others who are standing trial over the misappropriation of some GH¢130 million liquidity support to the bank leading to its collapse will face judgement on November 17.
This was after the third accused person Rev. Fitzgerald Odonkor, the former Managing Director (MD) of the bank had closed his defence.
William Ato Essien, the first accused person and Tettey Nettey, the second accused person had both closed their cases earlier in the trial that started about two years ago.
“As the third accused has closed his case there is no further evidence to lead. This criminal trial has closed,†Justice Eric Kyei Baffour stated.
“I order the prosecution and defence lawyers to file their respective written submissions in support of their case by the 17th October 2022,†the court added.
“The court will adjourn for its judgement to 17 November 2022 at 11 am,†the Judge stated.
The prosecution has closed its case after calling 17 witnesses in the matter.
Charges
Essien is standing trial with the Managing Director (MD) of the defunct bank, Fitzgerald Odonkor, and the MD of MC Management Services, Tettey Nettey.
MC Management Services is said to be owned by Essien.
The accused persons have pleaded not guilty to a combined 23 charges of stealing, abetment to stealing, conspiracy to steal and money laundering. They are on bail.
They have been accused of engaging in various illegal acts that led to the dissipation of the GH¢620-million liquidity support given to Capital Bank by the BoG between June 2015 and November 2016.
Masked armed robbers numbering five on Sunday dawn attacked the Ahantaman Rural Bank Limited in Abura, in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District of the Central Region.
Police investigators confirm to MyNewsGh.com that two of the robbers armed with pump-action guns first attacked the colleague Security men at their security post.
They tied their hands, legs and mouth with a sellotape and woolen strings and two of them holding the guns stood guard on them whilst the other three who were not armed but were with different types of implements managed to break one of the windows open and entered into the banking hall.
It is gathered that the robbers after operating for about two hours left the banking premises. One of the security guards however managed to untie himself to seek help
The police were thereafter notified about the incident but upon visiting the scene, they detected that the robbers caused damage to one of the banking hall sliding window and its burglar proof to gain ingress into the banking hall.
Further damages were caused to two inner doors of the bank before reaching the strong room which was well fortified with specialised metal door.
The robbers with a wall cutter cut through the wall creating a hole into the strong room. They also cut the iron bars of the gate of the Vault thereby taking away an amount of GHC93,445.45.
The robbers caused damage to two CCTV cameras, disconnected the CCTV server and took away the CCTV Recorder and Alarm Panel.
Meanwhile, the two victims who have no physical injuries on them have been issued with Police Medical Report form to attend hospital for a checkup
A group of armed robbers stormed a bank at Lashibi near Accra at dawn yesterday, cut through the wall to gain access to the vault and made away with an unspecified amount of money.
Two suspects identified by the police as Prince Ankrah and Albert Buckson, who were found in a parked taxi with the engine running few metres from the scene, were arrested and are assisting the police in their investigations.
Three private security details who were on duty at the time of the robbery were also picked up by the police, and had been in custody assisting in investigations.
The Accra Regional Police Command also retrieved two pump action guns with 100 rounds of AK 47 ammunition.
Attack
According to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Mrs Effia Tenge, around 2 a.m. yesterday, some unidentified armed men numbering about six attacked and robbed the bank.
The regional police PRO said the robbers fired into the vault lock, chiselled the wall to the vault to gain access and stole an unspecified amount of money.
DSP Tenge said the gunshots attracted the attention of a police patrol team which quickly moved in that direction. The robbers, realising the police were fast approaching the scene, managed to escape amid firing.
A search conducted at the scene by the police led to the retrieval of an electric cutter, a chisel, a harmer, 11 live 9mm ammunition, and 1 round of spent ammunition.
The PRO said an extension of the police search within the enclave led to the arrest of Ankrah and Buckson who were suspected to be on surveillance linked to the robbery.
Patrol teams
She said reinforcement patrol teams to the robbery scene also intercepted an Uranus bus suspected to be linked to the same robbery but its occupants, on seeing the police, managed to escape.
DSP Tenge said it was in the Uranus bus that the police retrieved the two pump action guns and the 100 rounds of live AK47 ammunition.
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has invested US$2.9 billion into the economies of member states.
Dr George Nana Agyekum Donkor, the President of the Bank, who announced this, said the investments were in line with the mandate of the bank to promote the development agenda of the sub-region.
He was speaking at the construction site of the Garden City Mall in Kumasi after leading a delegation of the bank to inspect the progress of work as one of the financiers of the project.
The project, which is being funded by EBID and the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), is a partnership between the Kumasi Traditional Council, the Methodist Church of Ghana and the Retail and Realty Company Limited.
The ECOWAS regional bank has so far invested US$20 million into the project, which is 85 per cent complete and expected to be opened in April 2021.
Dr Donkor said EBID was committed to the economic development of member states, adding that the Garden City Mall project had a huge prospect of enhancing the local economy of Kumasi as well as job creation.
He said the partners involved in the execution of the project were reputable institutions worth supporting for the benefit of the thousands of people who would be given direct and indirect jobs.
He disclosed that EBID also funded the Kempinski and Marriott Hotels, expansion of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and the extension of electricity to 114 communities in Ashanti, Bono and Ahafo Regions.
Other countries in the sub-region, according to him, also had the fair share of investments and gave the assurance that EBID would continue to drive the economy of the sub-region.
He commended the project contractors for the remarkable progress made so far and urged them to work hard to complete the work on time.
The delegation later paid a courtesy call on the King of the Asante Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Manhyia Palace.
The Asante Monarch commended the bank for supporting the project which, he said, would have a significant impact on the livelihoods of those who would be employed to work at the mall.
He encouraged the bank to extend their support to all member countries to address the infrastructural deficit in the sub-region.
The EBID is the financial arm of ECOWAS, comprising 15 member states with headquarters in Lome, the Republic of Togo.
It is committed to financing development projects and programmes in the areas of infrastructure, transport, energy, agriculture, telecommunication, rural development and industry.
The bank intervenes through short, medium and long term loans, equity participation, granting of lines of credit and putting in place framework agreements for refinancing, financial engineering operations and services.
One more suspect has been arrested by the police in connection with hacking into a bank and attempted to transfer GH¢46, 129,473 to eight individuals in different banks.
Aisha Konatey, an Ivorian woman, is currently in the custody of the police assisting in investigations, the Director of the Cybercrime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dr Gustav Herbert Yankson, told the Ghanaian Times in Accra, yesterday.
He said Aisha was arrested after investigations revealed that she sent text message to one of the suspects that the money was in his account.
ACP Yankson said the police have mounted a search for the arrest of two others, Boateng Mends, and one other identified as “Pussy Cat†who was on the run.
The Ghanaian Times in its Wednesday, July 15, 2020, issue reported that six people, who allegedly hacked into a bank and attempted to transfer GH¢46, 129,473 to eight individuals in different banks have been arrested by the police.
They are Hudu Abdul Mumuni, Emmanuel Adams, Moro Issah, Agbenu Fefous Chrissy, Sam Acquah, a former banker and owner of Adom Sika Savings and Loans Limited and James Taylor, a web developer.
ACP Yankson said on July 2, 2020, a petition was received by the unit from the management of the bank (name withheld) that someone remotely logged into the banking software and used the login credentials of some staff that were on leave to transfer the money to eight individuals of different banks.
He said on July 3, Mumuni was arrested at First Atlantic Bank at Ridge, Adams at Fidelity Bank at Madina, while Issah and Chrissy were apprehended at Dansoman when they showed up to withdraw money transferred from the bank.
ACP Yankson said on July 2, between 1 am and 10 am 13 fake swift transactions with some initiated outside working hours were fraudulently made to the accounts of eight people.
He said the management of the bank detected the fraudulent activity and disabled the SWIFT to prevent the further transfer and all banks involved were quickly alerted to prevent withdrawals.
ACP Yankson said a forensic examination of the devices retrieved from suspects indicated that Mends and Pussy Cat were part of the syndicate.
He said the suspects were currently on police enquiry bail while investigations were ongoing.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command has identified an emerging robbery trend in the Kumasi metropolis with people doing withdrawals from the banks, in particular, as the targets of armed robbers in the city
According to the police command, the suspects lurk around the premises of the various banks and financial institutions and use motorbikes to trail unsuspecting victims and rob them of their money at the opportune time.
In a press release signed by the Head of Public Affairs Directorate of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Godwin Ahianyo, the police urged the public to stay alert, so that they did not fall prey to these suspected robbers.
The command, however, advised the public especially those who go to withdraw huge sums of money to adhere to precautionary measures, including resorting to electronic transfers and transactions where applicable saying “institutions who must carry huge sums can also request for police escortâ€.
The public have been advised to be very mindful of those they communicate their banking transactions with and be wary of those who lurk around banking premises aimlessly and report them to the police officer on duty.
Banks and financial institutions have been urged by the command to mount security cameras at their premises and monitor them regularly.
The police command then appealed to the public to provide information on suspected criminals within their communities and should not hesitate to report them to the police.
It, however, warned those behind criminal activities in the region to put a stop to it as the command was working to arrest suspected criminals who were operating in and around the Kumasi metropolis, saying “they will be dealt with ruthlessly when arrestedâ€.
The command assured the public that the police was committed to providing the very best security in the region in order for all to go about their activities peacefully devoid of fear.
German lender Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) plans to pump at least 200 billion euros ($216.8 billion) into so-called sustainable financing and investments by 2025, its first formal targets for doing so.
The money will include loans provided by the bank, bonds placed on behalf of its clients and assets managed by its private bank. It does not include assets managed by its fund arm, DWS, it said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The move is the latest by a leading global lender to showcase commitment to sustainable investing, as pressure builds on banks to support the globally agreed transition to a low-carbon and more environmentally friendly economy.
Countries in Europe and elsewhere have also been looking at ensuring that sustainable investment is at the heart of economic recovery plans after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deutsche Bank said it would base its definition of sustainable activities on a planned European Union framework, known as the sustainable finance taxonomy or use its own “transparent criteriaâ€.
The bank said it would report annually on its progress and disclose more details on its definition of sustainable finance by the end of the second quarter of this year.
“We are driven by a very strong conviction to help shape the global change to a sustainable, climate-neutral and social economy,†said Chief Executive Christian Sewing, calling the 200 billion euro target “ambitious†relative to those of its rivals.
“However, we are starting from a good base because, as a globally active financing house, we can serve the growing demand of our clients for sustainable investment products by ourselves.â€
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced that commercial banks in Ghana have agreed with the Finance Minister and by extension government, to raise Some three billion Ghana cedis (GH¢3,000,000,000.00) to support the hospitality industry and other specific industries as part of strategic efforts to put the country on the path of recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing industry players in the hospitality sector at the Jubilee House, on Tuesday, 5 May 2020, President Akufo-Addo said interest rates will also be reduced to support industries as they strive to recover from the harm caused by the novel Coronavirus, [COVID-19] outbreak.
“The commercial banks have agreed with the Minister of Finance and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to raise some three billion cedis by way of loans they are going to give specific industries. The hospitality sector is one of them and the Bank of Ghana again with the support of the Minister of Finance has worked towards reducing interest rates, and even putting in place a moratorium on the payment of principal and I believe on interest on monies. So there is a package there that is available and accessible to you,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“There is a subsequent package that is also currently being negotiated by the Minister and the Bank of Ghana for a much larger sum of money to be pumped into the economy to support and empower the more productive sectors of the economy and once again the hospitality sector is one of them” the President added.
Representatives of the Hospitality Industry
Three representatives of the several associations that constitute the hospitality sector were given the opportunity to address the President. They include Mr Kwesi Eyison, President of the Tour Operators Union of Ghana, Mrs Bella Ayayee Ahu, President of the Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF) and Dr Edward Ackah-Nyamike Jnr, President of the Ghana Hotels Association.
Amongst other things, the representatives indicated that the main challenge of their members as a result of the Covid-19 crisis is how to meet their recurrent expenditure, particularly the payment of the salaries of their staff. They welcomed the financial rescue plans and proposals of government and requested that some urgency should be attached to the disbursement of same by the finance ministry.
Participation
Others members of the hospitality sector who participated in the meeting are Mr Emmanuel Frimpong, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF), Mrs Stella Appenteng, President, SKAL International- Ghana, Mr York Yeboah Orcan, President of the Car Rental Association of Ghana, Mr Isaac Sackey, President of the Chefs Association of Ghana. The rest are Mr Awuku Yirenkyi, President of the Tour Guides Association of Ghana, Kwame Bamfo ( Sikkens) – MD Alisa Hotel, Kate Hasan, president.
Event vendors, Mr Manish Numbair, General Manager of the Kempinski Hotel, Mr Rene Vincent Ernst, General Manager of the Labadi Beach Hotel, Theresa Ayaode, Event Organizers Association, Mr Adnan Yucuk, Chief Executive Officer of Movenpick Ambassador hotel and Mr Zibrim Yamusa of the Best Western Hotel. The Minister for Tourism and Creative Arts, Barbara Oteng Gyasi, Akwasi Agyeman, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), also participated in the meeting.
Management is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Pepin Vougo as Acting Director, Corporate Information and Technology Department effective 1 April 2020.
Pepin Vougo has more than 20 years of experience in technology and its application. He is a seasoned executive with depth and breadth of experience in delivering complex technology solutions on an international scale. He benefits from both private sector and MDB experience.
Pepin has been with the African Development Bank for 7 years, first as Infrastructure and Telecommunications Manager and then as Business Solutions Development Manager in charge of the Bank’s Application Development portfolio. As well as delivering numerous successful online applications to help digitize the Bank, he led the development of the 2017-2021 Digital Strategy.
Prior to the African Development Bank, Pepin was Deputy Division Chief at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) where he was responsible for IT service delivery to over 100 offices around the world. He oversaw an IT budget of USD 12 million (capital) and USD 11m (operating) and managed a team of over 100 people. He launched important initiatives while at the IMF, delivering major cost-saving successes for the institution, as well as measured improvement in IT client experience and satisfaction.
Before joining the IMF, Pepin’s career was in leading private sector companies. He was a Vice-President of Engineering with JP Morgan Chase from 2006 to 2009, in charge of the Global Software & Configuration Management Group supporting over 5,000 developers worldwide. Pepin also led a major workforce reconfiguration exercise, to allow the company to respond to a rapidly changed economic context. Pepin started his career with Symantec, as an Application Integration Engineer. He left as IT Operations Manager for the Information Security and Compliance line of business, supporting over 2000 developers globally.
Pepin holds a Master of Business Administration from St Thomas University in Houston, Texas and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston.
About the African Development Bank Group
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is Africa‘s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 37 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states.
Absa Bank has also offered a repayment moratorium of up to six months to all its personal and business customers who have been affected by COVID-19.
The bank has also reduced its lending rate by 2% to qualified personal and SME customers as well as loans to other impacted industries.
These measures took effect from 1 April 2020, and will be implemented across all loans due in April 2020, subject to the necessary arrangements with the bank.
The bank, last week, as a way of supporting customers, waived charges on interbank instant transfers on its digital channels, and also made mobile money transfers of up to GHS100 daily free.
Absa, also in a statement, said in the face of the challenges customers are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was only right that it offered some relief to help customers remain in business.
Commenting, the Managing Director, Abena Osei-Poku, said: “We have been closely monitoring developments and the growing concerns on COVID-19 in Ghana and the rest of the world, as well as reports from government and health institutions. This pandemic is nothing we have seen before and is very alarming, to say the least. As a caring bank, it is important for us to support our customers who keep us in business.â€
“While doing that, we are also aware of the efforts the government is making to bring the situation of COVID-19 under control in Ghana. We, therefore, found it dutiful to support the government towards the purchase of test kits to help curb the spread of the virus and PPEs for the protection of our frontline health workers.â€
The bank said it will keep monitoring developments on COVID-19 and make decisions that will be in the best interest of customers and employees.
Listed bank, Societe Generale registered a whopping 107% increase in earnings in 2019.
According to its 2019 Audited Financial Statement, profit shot up from GHS61 million in 2018 to GHS128 million last year.
Huge earnings from interest income as a result of increase in stated capital and reduction in impairment loss on financial assets, triggered this outstanding performance.
Interest income in 2019 was GHS454 million as against GHS353 million in 2018.
Earnings per share therefore increased from 11 pesewas per share the previous year to 18 pesewas per share in 2019. This means investors will enjoy an increase of 7 pesewas in every share of their investments.
Deposits from banks also grew by 46% to GHS3.1 billion in 2019.
For Financial Soundness Indicators, Capital Adequacy Ratio stood at 15.06% in 2019, down from 16.79% recorded in 2018.
Liquidity ratio also declined from 89.69% in 2018 to 64.57% in 2019.
Non-Preforming Loan Ratio also went down from 14.80% in 2018 to 8.8% in 2019.
That, however, is welcoming news to the bank.
Societe Generale is presently trading at 72 pesewas per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
Mr Michael Mensah-Baah, Chief Operating Officer, Absa Bank, Ghana has advised financial institutions to invest in risk management practices to forestall any uncertainties.
He said even though it was difficult to predict the future, measures must be put in place to mitigate any unforeseen problems.
Mr Mensah-Baah said this at a lecture on the theme: “Leveraging Risk Management in Financial Institutions” in Accra and reminded Board of Directors that it had an oversight responsibility to manage a company’s risk management framework to function well.
He said it was imperative for management to respect all stakeholders in financial institutions because shareholders were owners of the organization and appointed board members to represent them.
He urged Board of Directors to sanction any management member who failed to execute his or her duty; to serve as deterrent to others as well as preserve the image of the company.
“Everyone in the Organisation is responsible for risk management, it is a chain and starts from board members to management and staff,” he said.
He stated that risk management was an event and urged financial institutions to institute a good corporate governance mechanism for survival.
Mr Osei Gyasi, Head of Banking Supervision Unit, Bank of Ghana, launched a book titled: “Corporate Governance for Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions making directorship a Competence based Profession”.
The book, he said would become a great material to be used for the training of directors of financial institutions in the country.
It incorporates all the financial acts into one umbrella, which would guide financial institutions in managing its operations in an efficient and effective manner.
It also provides insight into the Ghanaian banking crisis and several case studies on financial service.
Mr Gyasi said the book would serve as a reference document for financial institutions, academia, students, banking practitioners and those who wants to acquire knowledge in the area of corporate governance.
Mr Justice Awuku-Sao, the Author said the book entailed sections of the banking Acts 2016, sections of the 2018 guidelines from the Bank of Ghana and aspects of 2019 company Acts that affected all financial directors and international best practice and corporate governance.
He entreated Bank of Ghana to make the book ready for all directors of financial institutions during their training programmes.
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) on Friday said it expects more listings in equities and bonds to boost liquidity and enhance the performance of the bourse this year.
It will also rely on technology for efficient trading on the exchange and ensure that Exchange play a significant role in providing access to funding for Small and Medium Enterprises for accelerated economic growth.
Mr Ekow Afedzie, GSE Managing Director, who laid out the plans for 2020 at a press briefing in Accra, said the market was on course to achieve positive results in line with the strategic plan.
One key issue is the plan to formalise the Over-the-Counter (OTC) trade, which though had been in existence was yet to be formalised, to help in the growth of the equity market.
Mr Afedzie said trading and pricing rules had been reviewed, and approved for the future, adding that listing would be promoted aggressively to corporate bonds issuers.
He said the exchange would introduce an electronic and pricing system by the third quarter of the year, adding that, the electronic platform would be for bonds, shares and securities of every kind.
On the GSE Memorandum of Understanding recently signed with the London Stock Exchange, Mr Afedzie said the move was to support the GSE transistion from a frontier market to an emerging one.
This, he said, would help boost investor confidence in the GSE and enhance trading activities in equities and also strengthen the bond market.
“Three key things will happen: They are going to assist us to move or migrate from what we call the frontier market to an emerging market.
“Once you become an emerging market, you will be more attractive to potential investors, especially the big institutional investors outside; secondly, we are going to work on how to develop the bond market, especially the local currency market; and thirdly, they will assist the SEC to implement the capital market development plan that has been developedâ€.
The Bank of Ghana is promoting a set of Sustainable Banking Principles for the banking industry, which requires them to ensure gender equity in their own organizations as well as gender-inclusive financial service delivery.
The Bank is also currently taking steps to collect data from financial institutions on a gender-disaggregated basis to help improve the measurement of progress in that regard, Mrs. Elsie Awadzi, second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana has announced.
Speaking at the maiden edition of the National Women’s Dialogue in Accra, Mrs Awadzi expressed the Bank of Ghana’s commitment towards ensuring that all banks, savings and loans companies, microfinance companies, rural and community banks remained safe and sound while actively supporting economic actors at all levels “to ensure that no one is left behind”.
The Women’s Dialogue, organised by the POS Foundation, an NGO, with funding from the GIZ, Ghana, was held to herald series of national discussions on challenges facing women in society and their business, while proposing solutions.
The theme for the Dialogue was: “Gender Equity, Women Economic Empowerment and Access to Justice; Requisites for Driving SME Growth in Ghana.
Mrs Awadzi, who, together with other women entrepreneurs spoke to the cross-section of participants that attended the Dialogue, said: the Bank was currently pursuing a financial inclusion agenda that promoted innovation in the mobilization of savings and delivery of credit and financial services generally to vulnerable groups in society.
She said Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), including those owned by women, would receive funding if they approach any recognised financial institution as the financial sector had been cleared, and those in operation had received the correct documentation to operate.
She, however, acknowledged the need to remove the obstacles that women continued to face in their endeavours to meaningfully impact on the socio-economic development of the nation.
“Women are the backbone of developing economies and properly tackling the obstacles that create road blocks for their development and the development of their businesses will help to unleash the potential they have to alleviate poverty, create jobs and ultimately grow their economies”.
Ms. Nicola Hondasi, Political and Economic Officer of the German Embassy, who represented the German Ambassador, reiterated the need to continuously advocate the economic empowerment of women and their enhanced access to justice, “which contributes to our common goal of achieving gender equity globally”.
Mr Jonathan Osei Wusu, Executive Director, POS Foundation said his organization and the GIZ, were undertaking the Dialogue initiative also known as “Women Access to Justice Gender Equity Economic Empowerment (WAJGEE,) to empower women entrepreneurs in all sectors of the Ghanaian economy.
He said other dialogue series would be held in Kumasi and Tamale to mobilize more women and resource them with the needful information and resources, to propel them to higher economic heights
Owners of defunct banks Unibank and UT bank, Dr. Kwabena Duffour and Prince Kofi Amoabeng respectively have been granted GHC60 million bail each by an Accra High Court.
This follows counsel for the accused who prayed that the court grant their clients the bail on the basis that they are law-abiding citizens and will not at any point in time leave the country.
The state prosecutors, led by Attorney General, Sophia Akufo, responded to the plea stating that the state will not oppose the bail requested by the accused persons.
The accused persons were charged with fraudulence, misleading the court, dishonesty, misappropriation of funds, causing financial laws to the state and breach of trust.
Dr Kwabena Duffuor was charged with 68 counts with seven others while Prince Kofi Amoabeng together with five others were charged with 43 counts.
Dr Duffuor and Mr Amoabeng pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them in separate hearings.
In addition to the bail, the embattled CEOs were asked to present three sureties and two to be justified.
Bail for the other accused persons
The seven others charged with Dr Duffuor were each granted a bail of GHC60 million, three sureties with two to be justified.
They are Kwabena Duffour Jnr, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis, Elsie Dansoa Kyereh, Jeffery Amon, Benjamin Ofori, Kwadwo Opoku Okoh.
The five others accused with Prince Kofi Amoabeng were Johns Pandit Asiama, Raymond Amanfo, UT Holding Limited, Catherine Johnson, and Robert Kwasi.
With the exception of Accused persons 1 and 5, the rest were also granted GHC60 million, three sureties with two to be justified.
A1 known as Johns Pandit Asiama was granted a bail recognisance while A5 in the person of Catherine Johnson was given GHC20 million with two sureties.
Indigenous bank, ADB, has recorded a whopping 435% profit for the 2019 financial year.
According to its unaudited 2019 Financial Statement, it recorded a profit of GHS35.9 million in 2019 as against GHS5.9 million in 2018.
This impressive performance is primarily due to a reduction in interest expense and investment in government securities.
The bank registered an interest expense of GHS182 million in 2019 as against GHS213 million in 2018. This might be due to reduction in cost of funds, from expensive deposits (fixed deposits) to cheap funds (current and savings deposits).
From the income statement, ADB registered GHS11 million tax expense in 2019, compared to GHS28.1 million expense in 2018. It is however unclear why the income tax expense reduced significantly.
Per the impressive performance by the bank, the earnings per share rose from GHS3 to GHS11, a significant benefit to shareholders.
From the balance sheet, GHS1.5 billion was invested in securities in 2019 as against GHS1.1 billion in 2018.
Deposits from customers also grew by 31% to GHS3.3 billion in 2019.
With regard to the financial soundness indicators, the capital adequacy ratio rose from 9.38% in 2018 to 15.11% in 2019.
Non-performing loans however still remained high at 40.24% in 2019 as against 49.29%.
Few weeks ago, ADB successfully raised GHS127 million from a private placement.
Meanwhile, ADB is trading at GHS5.06 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
The customers of the defunct savings and loans and finance house companies have called on the government to set up a Consolidated Savings and Loans Company or a Consolidated Microfinance Company, through which their locked-up funds should be paid.
The group, which is known as Coalition of Affected Savings and Loans Customers (CASLOC), said all their accounts should be “migrated and credited fully there if only the current Banking and Specialized Depositors Act will permit.â€
At a press conference in Kumasi, CASLOC said even if their request is not permissible their accounts should be migrated to an existing universal bank or banks, “possibly the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG).â€
According to CASLOC, this is because that is where currently all the payments of affected customers are being paid from.
Against the backdrop that the bailout funds have been capped at GH?20,000, CASLOC in its appeal for the government to also consider migrating them to CBG added that “maybe some restrictions about withdrawals†could be attached to the account for some time, until all the required bailout funds are secured.
CASLOC, which is made up of the customers of the 23 savings and loans and finance house companies whose licenses were revoked by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), if the current trend of payment should continue no customer can tell when he or she will have access to locked-up funds.
Additionally, they noted that it will take the Receiver and his staff about 132 years to finish paying all the locked-up funds of the over 3.3 million customers if it has taken over 3 years to pay just about 80 percent of the 100,000 customers of the defunct DKM Microfinance company.
The Chairman and Secretary of the group, Mr. Kofi Sarpong and Mr. Ezekiel Annor Akagbo, also called on the Council of State, Parliament, the Former Presidents, the National House of Chiefs, among others to help them to retrieve their funds.
The management of the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) has said the bank will resume full operations on Thursday January 2.
On Tuesday December 31, all CBG branches closed to the public at 2PM.
A message to all customers from the management on Monday December 30 said : “Dear Valued Customer, All CBG branches will close to the General Public at 2pm tomorrow, Tuesday, December 31, 2019.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the government will soon make public, investigations into the circumstances that led to the collapse of some indigenous banks in the country.
According to the President, preliminary investigations reveal that huge assets of the collapsed banks were diverted.
In his Christmas message to Ghanaians, President Akufo-Addo said those found guilty will be dealt with.
“Investigations into potential criminal conduct are proceeding. As it appears, there has been a massive diversion of assets of these financial institutions. I assure you that the outcome of these inquiries will be made known very soon as well as actions taken to bring those responsible to book,†the President promised.
The President also admitted that the decision to collapse these banks was a painful one.
“We have had to take painful but necessary measures to sanitize and save the banking system. A process which I know has brought discomfort to many a household. It is worthy to note however that the jobs of some 6500 workers were saved as a result instead of the 10,000 that could have been lost. In addition to the protection of funds of 4.6 million depositors.
“Thus far, the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana have worked together to guarantee payments of 100% of deposits of customers of the failed banks which is being done. I have directed the Ministry of Finance to work with the Bank of Ghana to ensure that same applies to customers of microfinance and Savings and Loans Companies whose licenses have been revoked.â€
The Central Bank has over the past two years revoked the licenses of a number of banks, microfinance companies, and Savings and Loans companies.
A few weeks ago, SEC also revoked the licenses of some 53 Fund Management Companies.
The 53 fund management companies who have lost their licenses were said to be managing a customer base of about 56,000 whose funds run in excess of GH¢8 billion out of the total GHc25 billion of the entire securities sector.
SEC also explained that the revocation is “in accordance with its mandate of protecting investors and the integrity of the capital market.â€
The financial sector clean-up, commenced by the Akufo-Addo administration in August 2017, has led to the collapse of nine universal banks, 347 microfinance companies, 39 microcredit companies or money lenders, 15 savings and loans companies, eight finance house companies, and two non-bank financial institutions.
Capital bank collapse: Ato Essien, others charged with stealing, money laundering Just recently, the state dragged the former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of defunct Capital Bank, Ato Essien and Fitzgerald Odonkor and two others to court over the collapse of the bank.
The state leveled 26 different counts of charges against the four which included Kate Quartey-Papafio and Tetteh Nettey.
On count one, the state accused William Ato Essien and Tetteh Nettey of “conspiracy to steal contrary to sections 23 (1) and 124 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).â€
“William Ato Essien and Tetteh Nettey between October and November 2015 in Accra in the Greater Accra Region agreed to act together with a common purpose to steal the sum of GHc100,000,000,†the writ sighted by citinewsroom.com stated.
An Accra High Court subsequently granted bail in the sum of GHc200 million to the two.