GH¢400m capital requirement: Akufo-Addo can’t intervene – Casely Hayford

Financial Analyst, Sydney Casely Hayford has described as unnecessary the trip to the Jubilee House by heads of local banks to petition the President over the raised minimum capital requirement by the Bank of Ghana.

The central bank last year hiked the minimum capital requirement to GH¢400 million, equivalent to about US$100 million and commercial banks in the country have up to December 2018 to raise the amount, which represents a 333.3 per cent increase from the current minimum capital.

But some local banks have described the time as too short a period to meet the target.

And subsequently, Managers of the domestic banks met the President to request for an extension of the deadline. They want the deadline extended from 2018 to 2022, but it appears some key officials in government are divided over the petition.

Banks were last recapitalized in 2012, when the BoG asked them to raise their stated capital from GH¢60 million at the time to the current GH¢120 million.

That round of recapitalization led to the consolidation of three banks, The Trust Bank (into Ecobank), Intercontinental Bank (into Access Bank) and Amalgamated Bank (into Bank of Africa).

Commenting on the recent development on Big Issue on Accra-based Citi FM Saturday, Casely Hayford said the move by the heads of indigenous banks in the country was uncalled for and a waste of time.

“It’s not a matter of whether your ownership is locally-derived…going to see the President to lobby him is a total waste of time,” he said.

He continued: “The President can’t start a bank or shut one down, he can’t regulate or supervise them [and] will not undermine the BoG governor [on the minimum capital requirement increase.]”

“We have too many banks chasing too little money making the interest rates high and affecting the customer.

“We have to stop trying to get preferential treatment by sending delegations or petitions to the President,” he added.