The collapsed Heritage Bank
Embattled businessman, Alhaji Seidu Agongo has revealed how the new management of the Bank of Ghana crashed his dream and aspiration of making the now collapsed Heritage Bank a continental brand that would compete with international banks in and outside Ghana.
The Bank of Ghana governor Dr Ernest Addison in January this year announced the revocation of the license of the bank on grounds of alleged criminality in a COCOBOD case, even though the matter was pending before the High Court.
The BoG governor in stating the reasons for the collapse of the Heritage Bank said Mr Agongo was “not fit” to own a bank in Ghana because he was being prosecuted by the state in a GHS271 million Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) fertiliser scandal involving a former COCOBOD Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Stephen Opuni.
Following an announcement of the auctioning of assets of the bank on Friday September 6, Mr Agongo who is the founder and majority shareholder of the bank said “In July 2014, I set out to build a brand that will endure and stand the test of time.
"It was a deliberate attempt, guided and inspired by a passion to create a formidable brand from scratch onto the world economic stage. Like Ecobank, Access Bank and Stanbic Bank, which are successful African brands in the financial space, that brand was envisaged to be a proud continental brand, blazing the flag of Ghana and rubbing shoulders with counterparts elsewhere”.
In an obviously heartbreaking tone, he intimated that the woes of his bank began upon the assumption of office of the current management of the Bank of Ghana led by Dr Ernest Addison in 2017.
“With the relevant financial resources in hand, we completed the preparatory works and in October 2016, acquired a license from Bank of Ghana to operate as Heritage Bank Ghana Limited.
The dream was on and in the twinkle of an eye, a group of highly motivated staff were assembled and one of the best and most robust working structures put together to render niche services that will endear those we come into contact with.
All was well until 2017, when a new regulatory regime started taking us prisoner,” he stated in a Facebook post seen by MyNewsGh.com.
He further suggested that the auctioning of assets of Heritage Bank is a manifestation of the hostile conditions under which resourceful businesses and ideas are killed in Ghana and Africa.
“Africa and Ghana in particular won’t grow in that environment."
Like Pastor Mensa Otabil said in February 2016, the difference between Ghanaians and Mark Zukerberg and Steve Jobs of Facebook and Apple fame is not brains, it is the environment,” he added.
