Ghanaians urged to partake in GCB share offer

Sunyani, June 1, GNA - Mr. Franklin Kwabena Asamoah, a member of the Board of Directors of Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), has urged all Ghanaians and investors across the world to participate in the bank's rights issue offer to make the nation's premier bank more viable.

Speaking at the launch of the offer in Sunyani, he called for more support in the transformation of the bank into "an able and dynamic bank" so it could enhance its contributions to the national economy.

The GCB through the rights issue intends to raise 450 billion cedis by issuing 75 million ordinary shares of no par value at 6,000 cedis per share and the exercise lasts from May 15 till June 15. Mr. Asamoah said the rights offer had opened a new chapter in the history of the bank and that the government was hopeful that investment of proceeds from the exercise would highlight its objectives for the Bank of Ghana and the Ghanaian banking sector. He emphasized that in achieving its objectives, the GCB needed to have a strong capital base comparable to its peers in the sub-region.

The bank should be capable of offering a variety of unique products and services relevant to the needs of the nation's economy and must be a "true leader" in the industry. Mr. Asamoah said when the government consented to GCB raising additional capital it had the objective of strengthening the bank's capital base to enable it to compete effectively within the banking industry in the country and in the sub-region.

Mr. Roko Frimpong, the Deputy Managing Director of GCB in charge of Operations, explained that the bank's strategic focus was to consolidate its retail banking business and to reposition itself in respect of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and large corporate banking businesses. "In line with this, we seek to expand and enhance accessibility of branch and account nation-wide to retail customers and also provide a platform for corporates and SMEs". Mr. Frimpong said the share offer was to support and drive this strategy, especially in systems and processes, working capital, employees, branch building and products and services. Mr. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Regional Minister, commended the past and present board, management and staff of the bank for nurturing the premier bank throughout the years.