Double efforts to transform economy, Governor tells banks

Accra, Nov 29, GNA - Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), has challenged banks to double efforts in order to serve as financial mediators in transforming the economy for the better. He also called on the financial institutions to reorient their operations to restore public confidence in the banking sector. Mr Amissah-Arthur was speaking at the Annual Bankers' Dinner organized by the Ghana Chartered Institute of Bankers (GCIB) at the State House in Accra on Saturday.

He said the re-orientation efforts should include "full disclosure of pricing and fees charged on the delivery of such financial services." Mr Amissah-Arthur said that the lesson Ghana could learn from the global economic recession that recently hit the world was to strengthen the regulatory framework to promptly identify emerging vulnerabilities in the financial industry.

He disclosed that BoG had licensed a Credit Reference Bureau with the aim of using the bureau to ease some of the challenges facing the banks in their lending operations which built up into high transaction costs. Mr Amissah-Arthur said that banks were expected to collaborate and educate their customers with the help of the information provided to the bureau so that benefits that would accrue to the financial institutions would be realized.

"Credit reference bank customers would build strong reputation as collateral which paves the way for such customers to borrow at lower costs as well as speed up the borrowing process," he said. Mr Amissah-Arthur said that there was the need for the banks to seek the consent of their customers in the provision of data to the credit reference bureau.

He said that the BOG was planning to establish a deposit insurance scheme to provide a safety net for depositors to boost the banking sector. "The BoG has initiated steps in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to conduct a study into a deposit insurance scheme for savers," Mr Amissah-Arthur said.

Mr Isaac Owusu-Hemeng, President of GCIB, said that the Institute had completely reviewed its syllabus covering professional examinations to ensure relevance of the professional qualification to the banking industry. "The review was also partly in response to past criticism that the Institute's qualification was of limited scope and did not provide effective linkages with other professional and academic courses as well as career opportunities in other non-bank financial services," he said. Mr. Owusu-Hemeng said that the Institute had applied to the National Accreditation Board to run other certificate programmes including Mortgage Advice and Practice, Regulated General Insurance, Financial Studies and Financial Advisors. He said that the Council of the Institute had made it compulsory for Fellows and Associates of GICB to participate in Continuing Professional Development Programme, which aimed at ensuring that members were technically up to date with emerging trends and shills required in the financial sector. Mr Owusu-Hemeng said that the quality of services rendered by the banking sector would depend on the pool of multi-skilled talents available to the banking industry. He said "this is the challenge that the Institute with support of its stakeholders, is willing to accept by making professional banking training and development its prime focus. 29 Nov 09

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