Access Bank to raise GHC300m to meet capital requirement

Access Bank is expected to raise GhC300 million through a renounceable Right Issue this month, Starr Business has gathered.

It follows approval by Shareholders of the Bank at its Extra Ordinary General Meeting held in December.

The offer will be in a ratio of one new share for every existing shares. The ex-rights and qualifying dates for the offer have been set for May 17 and 21.

The proceeds from the offer will be used to meet the minimum capital requirement set by the Central Bank.

The central bank last year raised the minimum capital requirement to GH¢400 million, equivalent to about US$100 million and commercial banks in the country have up to December 2018 to raise the amount, which represents a 333.3 percent increase from the current minimum capital of GH¢120 million.

Banks were last recapitalized in 2012, when the BoG asked them to raise their stated capital from GH¢60 million at the time to the current GH¢120 million. That round of recapitalization led to the consolidation of three banks, The Trust Bank (into Ecobank), Intercontinental Bank (into Access Bank) and Amalgamated Bank (into Bank of Africa). That round of recapitalization led to the consolidation of three banks, The Trust Bank (into Ecobank), Intercontinental Bank (into Access Bank) and Amalgamated Bank (into Bank of Africa).

The deputy finance Minister Kwaku Kwarteng last month urged local banks in the country to merge in order to meet the minimum capital requirement to avoid folding. That, according to him, will ensure stability of the financial sector.

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has already announced it will soon issue a set of guidelines to facilitate the merging and acquisitions of banks in the country which cannot meet the new minimum capital requirement.

The announcement which was done by the Second Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Elsie Awadzi last month is coming months ahead of the deadline for banks to increase their capital base by some GH¢280 million.