Republic Bank pursues GHC225m rights issue

Republic Bank Ghana Limited has indicated that it’s pursuing a GH¢225 million rights this year as part of efforts toward achieving the GH¢400 million new minimum capital requirement announced by the Central Bank.

As a result of this, the bank’s board of directors has recommended no dividend payment to shareholders.

Charles Zwennes, Board Chairman, who stated this at the company’s annual general meeting yesterday in Accra, said the bank increased its stated capital from GH¢96.19 million to GH¢146.19 million last year after its board of directors passed a resolution for a GH¢50 million renounceable rights issue.

He said the bank ended the year with a capital adequacy ratio of 23.14 percent compared to 11.50 percent in the previous year.

The bank and its subsidiaries recorded 10.7 percent rise in assets from GH¢1.89 billion to GH¢2.10 billion.

Deposits also increased by 10 percent in line with the industry average of 10.6 percent.

On the back of strong recoveries in loans and advances, accounts management and prudent investments, the bank recorded profit-after-tax of GH¢45.43 million after two successive years.

Shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting held on September 28, 2017 approved the proposal to change the name of the bank from HFC Bank Ghana Limited to Republic Bank Ghana Limited, subject to statutory/regulatory approvals.

This was to help in easy identification and alignment to the ratings and core competencies of the Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) Group.

Anthony Jordan, Managing Director of Republic Bank Ghana, in a remark, said the bank embarked on the management of carrying costs associated with non-performing loans and aggressive collection of mortgage loans.

He said the group’s net interest income from loans and investments for 2017 was GH¢165.61 million. representing 26.2 percent year-on-year increase driven partly by a strong growth in income from investments which improved by 66 percent from GH¢85.55 million in 2016 to GH¢142.16 million in 2017.