Adhere to good corporate governance – Databank CEO to colleagues

The CEO of Databank Group, Mr Kojo Addae-Mensah, has urged players in the financial services industry to adhere to good corporate governance practices in line with the Bank of Ghana's regulations to flourish after the sector cleanup exercise.

The licences of nine commercial banks, two finance houses, 386 microfinance and microcredits companies, 53 fund managers; and 23 savings and loans firms were revoked as part of the banking sector cleanup exercise due to breaches of Act 930 coupled with severe impairments of their capital and inability to meet the regulator’s new minimum capital.

The crisis negatively impacted confidence in the financial sector.

This has also affected the investment banking sub-sector.

According to Mr Addae-Mensah, intensifying education by financial services industry players is crucial to restoring the confidence of customers in the sector.

Speaking to Class91.3FM's Jerry Akornor on the sidelines of a media training session in Accra, Mr Addae-Mensah said: "The regulator of financial sector must ensure that corporate governance structures of financial institutions are strong. If you look at the reports of the revocation, corporate governance runs through almost every single company, so, it's important that we get our corporate governance right”.

He urged managers of banks and other financial institutions to desist from using clients’ funds for operational activities.

Journalists were taken through some recent reforms in the financial sector and their implications on the industry as well as investing in financial instruments.