CAL Bank prepared to deal with cybercrime – MD

The Managing Director of CAL Bank Limited, Frank Adu Jnr, has assured that his outfit has taken measures to combat the increasing threat of cyber-attacks on financial institutions in the country.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the commissioning of the ultra-modern head office in Accra, Frank Adu Jnr noted that one huge challenge facing the sector in its digitization agenda is the threat of cybercrime.

In light of this, Cal Bank has invested heavily in their digital operations and upgraded their software and hardware to withstand attempts by hackers and cyber criminals.

“All of us have telephones. We use Facebook and WhatsApp and we get hacked. As long as you are in the digital space there are going to be hacking attempts. I am informed that on daily basis, bank of Ghana’s Security and Operation Centre records about 19,000 cyber attempts into Ghana. So if you are running a bank and you know that in order to survive you must go digital, you must know once you go digital, there are security issues that must be addressed”.

“We have spent millions of dollars to upgrade our hardware, to upgrade our software, to virtualize our service etc so that instead of carrying 800 hard service, we have just about 200 service carrying 800 virtual service and all these are seriously protected. Because if you do not take cyber security seriously, you are doomed”, he said.

New headquarters will improve Cal Bank’s fortunes

Frank Adu Jnr remarked that the bank’s ability to erect a new multi-million dollar office after surviving the BoG reform strategy is an indication of their strong financial status.

He is optimistic that the 12-floored eco-friendly building will enhance fortunes of the bank and accelerate its agency banking policy which includes the deployment of over 2,000 agents nationwide.

“Since this building came up, we’ve had so many questions. Which building is that? Which bank is that? And it has definitely improved the fortunes of the bank. It also gives the true reflection of the strength of the bank. It came at a time when there was all this uncertainty in the banking sector regarding the capitalization. First and foremost we moved into this building in October (2018) and in November we capitalized. We are the only indigenous bank that did not bring money from anywhere else.

“Going forward, I see this building, building up the fortunes of the bank and we are going to leverage this to push our agent banking. We're moving from bricks to clicks, this building is brick but it is the last set of brick. In all other places, we're going to have agents and the plan is to have about 2,000 of these agents that will be able to perform the basic requirements of operating a bank. “The world is going totally digital and I can predict that in the next 15 years, bank branches will be turned to showrooms", he further indicated.

Located in the heart of the capital, the building of powered by solar energy with an installed capacity of 500KW. Also the water system used in the building is harvested rain and underground water.

The commissioning was graced by President Akufo-Addo who reaffirmed his government’s support for local banks.