ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
strengthening good corporate governance and ethical standards; iv.
fostering gender equality; v. facilitating financial inclusion; vi.
enhancing resource efficiency and sustainable consumption and production; and vii.
compliance reporting.
These SBPs will apply to five sectors which have initially been identified.
These are: a) agriculture and forestry; b) mining, oil and gas; c) construction and real estate; d) energy and power; and e) manufacturing 7.
Your Excellency, the development of the SBPs is as a result of intense work spann ing the past four years.
To briefly recap, Bank of Ghana, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), initiated the creation of a national platform to discuss the establishment of sustainable banking principles sometime in April 2015.
A Sustainable Banking Committee made up of representatives of the Bank of Ghana , the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was inaugurated in December 2015 to spearhead work in this direction , with the mandate of coming up with relevant sustainable banking principles for the banking sector.
The Committee produced the first draft of the Sustainable Banking Principles and Sector Guidance Notes sometime in late 2017.
To further deepen collaboration with other stakeholders, a stakeholders’ Forum was organized by the Sustainable Banking Committee in March 2018, with support from IFC’s Africa ESRM program to discuss the draft principles.
The forum brought together representatives of the banking industry, academia, the private sector, civil society, and other institutions, who provided feedback and further inputs for additional work that was done by the Committee subsequently.
In July this year, the final phase of the exercise was undertaken where a CEOs Roundtable was organized to obtain the v iews of Bank CEOs on the draft SBPs and sector guidance notes before they were finalised .
Your Excellency, I am glad to report that all bank CEOs endorsed the SBPs and signed commitments to that effect.
Your Excellency, distinguished l adies and gentlemen, we now have a strong and resilient banking industry.
Not only is the industry now well- capitalized, solvent, liquid and profitable ; but also , the stability and resilience of the sector have been greatly enhanced.
We have witnessed credit picking up, and the strong capital position s of banks provide some strong support for credit growth going forward.
We recently also announced some policy measures to strengthen credit growth further.
The formal launch of this initiative is therefore appropriately timed to ensure that banks’ credit and commercial considerations are balanced with responsible and sustainable banking principles.
Your Excellency, d istinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by acknowledging the immense support provided by our development partners, including the IFC and the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affai rs (SECO) in the development of this project.
Let me also recognize the immense support of the Ghana Bankers Association and the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the tremendous work of the Steering Committee.
We believe that banks will take advan tage of these SBPs and sector guidance notes to develop effective ESRM policies to promote the sustainability of their banking business as well as the sustainability of the Ghanaian economy.
23RD ANNUAL BANKING CONFERENCE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF BANKERS, GHANA KEYNOTE ADDRESS DR.
ERNEST ADDISON GOVERNOR - BANK OF GHANA Accra International Conference Centre Tuesday, November 26, 2019 2 Mr Chairman, President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Executive Secretary of Ghana Association of Bankers, Chief Executives of Banks, Members of the Institute, Distinguished Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, 1.
Thank you very much for the invitation to deliver the keynote address for this 23rd National Banking Conference.
This conference hosted annually by the Chartered Institute of Bankers, provides the needed forum to discuss pertinent issues within the banking industry.
More importantly, it also reminds us that all too soon another year is gradually drawing to a close.
Mr Chairman, we can all attest to the fact that 2019 has been eventful leading to a resilient and rejuvenated banking sector.
This comes two years after the Bank of Ghana implemented a comprehensive set of reforms to safeguard depositors’ funds, maintain financial stability, and reposition the industry to support the country’s economic transformation.
The pay-offs for the financial sector reforms has been phenomenal.
Banks are now stable, well-capitalized, liquid, profitable, and more efficient with adequate capital buffers.
The resilience of the industry to shocks has also improved sign ificantly.
These are the supporting bedrock for a sustainable digital banking and payment 3 ecosystem.
Within this context, banks are not only well-capitalized, but managed by fit and proper persons with respect for good corporate governance covenants.
We must however not be complacent but as stakeholders we must remain committed to policies sustaining the gains achieved so far.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are all witnesses to the rapid chang es brought on by financial technology advancements with alternative payment channels , and innovative products and services , offering better customer experiences and convenience.
Given these emerging changes, the chosen theme for this year’s conference , that is , “The Digital Age: Implications for Growth and sustainability of the Financial Industry” is apt and provides the much-needed opportunity to deliberate on how to leverage on technology to improve efficiency, modernise existing financial business models and grow the industry in a sustainable manner.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Digital Financial Services (DFS) undoubtedly presents a great opportunity for Ghanaians to access affordable, convenient a nd secure banking services .
From the newly minted mobile phone wielding customers; now empowered with access to a range of financial services, to the striving young entrepreneurs; who are finding job opportunities along the value chain, digital financial technologies will continue to de fine the future of our banking experience.
The potential for growth is evident; mobile money 4 transaction volumes alone increased from 982 mil lion to 1.4 billion between 2017 and 2018.
This consistent growth pattern underscores the sustainable nature of opportunity for the banking sector.
To fully harness this potential growth, investment and employment opportunity, the Bank of Gh ana together with the Government and other agencies have pursued regulatory reforms in the banking and payments industry to provide the legal basis and the enabling environment for a strong banking and digital financial ecosystem.
Laws passed under the reform project include the Banks and Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions Act, the Deposit Protection Act, and the Payment Systems and Services Act.
By the passage of these laws, the regulatory environment has been enhanced and strengthened and the banking industry is now well-positioned to interface with Fintechs and at the same time offer flexibility to banks to deliver innovative digital products on a large scale.
Bank of Ghana will continue to create the enabling regulatory environment that encourages innovation in the industry, accommodate different payment service providers , while also seeking to address inherent risks to financial stability and consumer protection associated with the digitization of financial products and services.
It is gratifying to note, that presently, sixteen (16) financial technology firms and twenty-two (22) banks have forged alliances to deliver various financial products and services.
Banks are now not only competing among themselves for financial services, but also with non -traditional providers such as financial technology companies (fintechs).
This raises the stakes for banks to recalibrate existing business models to appropriately deal with the increased levels of competition or risk being outcompeted.
Going forward the main question will be how to sustain the growth of the industry brought on through digitization.
Here, I w ill offer some four key areas that stakeholders within the financial landscape must pursue.
To begin with, industry players must seek partnerships with one or more non-traditional providers, aggregate multiple products under one payment platform or leverage the potential power of open banking through the use of Application Programming Interface (API).
In this direction, stakeholders must seek to establish shared platforms and work collectively to promote merchant acceptance of digitised financial products and services , with particular emphasis on lower tier merchants, such as small and micro -enterprises to accelerate the digitization process.
This will reposition the industry to compete as a unified force compared with the myriads of existing fragmented payment platforms.
The banking industry also needs to prepare consumers for digital finance to sustain the digitization process.
Consumer experiences of 6 banking services are rapidly changing with digitization and there is increasing acceptability and preference for electronic payments for goods and services and online interfaces for business transactions .
This provides enormous opportunities for the financial service industry to reassess its business model to meet consumer demands.
Greater responsibility in the education of consumers to understand the essence of financial protection is also crucial for industry players .
While there have been attempts to publicize new digital offerings, some businesses and individuals are uninformed about financial protection while conducting online transactions.
This situation can exacerbate consumer risks and reduce public confidence in digitised financial products and services.
Information needs of consumers on how to protect themselves against fraud when using digital financial services therefore needs to be addressed.
The digital age provides enormous potential for the financial sector to re -orient itself to satisfy the new consumer and business demands for financial services.
The greatest obstacles for digital transformation in the financial ser vices industry have been culture, legacy systems, and existing skills sets.
Therefore, the industry needs to retool legacy systems and enhance employee skills sets to use new technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and other technologies underpinned by data and advanced analytics 7 to offer better services, increase long -term value and strengthen the ability to adapt and respond to the digital age.
To become sustainable, the banking sector also needs to reassess current fees and charges and promote greater transparency in consumer dealings.
Consumers want cost - efficient and seamless transactions and industry players must optimize the use of digital infrastructure and technology to offer quality service at relatively cheaper costs to consumers.
As regulators in the financial system, the central bank has focused extensively on promoting good corporate governance culture, financial integrity, strong risk management practices and strong internal controls.
This is because our legitimacy is to protect depositors and ensure public confidence in the financial system.
We therefore urge all stakeholders in the financial sector must adhere to the core tenets of integrity and transparency to build and sustain trust in online transactions.
Despite the several opportunities offered through digital financial innovation, its delivery has more recent ly ushered in an increased spate of complex cyber security threats .
Consequently, f inancial institutions need to understand risks associated with digital financial services and provide the right mix of mitigation measures and systems to prevent, detect and respond to such cyber incidents.
In this regard, 8 the Bank of Ghana has issued a cyber-security directive for compliance by banks and payment service providers to build a robust and resilient digital ecosystem.
Also, t he establishment of the Financial Industry Security Operations (FINSOC) would help collect, analyse, normalise and aggregate system logs, alerts and related cyber security incidents across the industry.
Mr Chairman, let me end my speech by reiterating that Bank of Ghana will continue to engage the industry on additional avenues through which digitisation can be promoted in the financial sector landscape.
Just yesterday, I announced that Bank of Ghana, in line with Section 10 of the Payment Systems and Services Act 2019 (Act 987), has also granted GC B Bank (Ghana) Limited authorization to issue electronic money similar to what is popularly known as “mobile money”.
In its issuance of electronic money, GCB Bank would create electronic value backed by equivalent cash which will afford customers to have access to electronic wallets issued by GCB Bank (Ghana).
The GCB Bank plans to leverage on its 189 branch network to offer its own agency banking services.
The Bank of Bank is also in discussion with key stakeholders to explore a pilot project (in a sandb ox environment) on central bank digital currency with the possibility of issuing an e-cedi in the near future.
In conclusion, M r C hairman, let me note that the future of financial services is digitisation.
But, it raises some key strategic issues for the banking industry including how each institution can leverage digital financial services technologies for growth; whether through competition, co -opetition or partnerships .
Despite the se, the opportunities of digitising financial services are enormous and can be explored effectively to scale up financial access for Ghana’s economic transformation agenda.
Ladies and Gentlemen, these pertinent issues should help shape the discussions at this year’s Annual Bank er’s Conference and I wish you fruitful deliberations.
PRESS RELEASE PRESIDENT INAUGURATES BOARD OF GDPC The President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, swore in a new Board of Directors for the Ghana Deposit Protection Corporation (GDPC) on Friday, November 15, 2019.
As the governing body of the Corporation, the Board is tasked with the responsibility of prescribing procedures for the management and operations of the Corporation, while also ensuring the proper and effective performance of the functions of the Corporation.
The seven-member Board is chaired by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr.
Ernest Addison.
Other members of the Board include institutional represe ntatives from the Ministry of Finance (Mr.
Sampson Akligoh), Chartered Institute of Bankers (Rev.
Patricia Sappor), Association of Ghana Industries (Mr.
Joseph Hyde Jnr), Ghana Bar Association (Mr.
George Amissah Jnr), Institute of Chartered Accountants (Dr.
Daniel Seddoh) and the Chief Executive Officer.
The Chief Executive Officer , Mrs.
Pearl Esua -Mensah, was appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Board and the conduct of due diligence by the Bank of Ghana.
The Ghana Deposit Prot ection Corporation (GDPC) was established by the Ghana Deposit Protection Act, 2016, (Act 931, as amended) to protect small depositors against losses incurred on the occurrence of an insured event.
The Corporation became operational on 30th September 2019.
End 15 November, 2019
THE 7TH NATIONAL RURAL BANKING WEEK CELEBRATION THEME: “THE ROLE OF RURAL & COMMUNITY BANKS (RCBS) IN FINANCIAL INCLUSION” ADDRESS BY DR.
MAXWELL OPOKU-AFARI FIRST DEPUTY GOVERNOR, BANK OF GHANA THE TAKORADI TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, TAKORADI NOVEMBER 16, 2019 2 Hon.
Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Finance, Mr.
Chairman, Nananom, Hon.
Western Regional Minister, Hon.
Ministers of State, National President, Association of Rural Banks, The Chairman, ARB Apex Bank Ltd, Directors and Chief Executive Officers of Rural/Community Banks, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, 1.
Thank you for the invitation as the Special Guest on the occasion of the 7 th National Rural Banking Week Celebrations.
This occasion presents the Bank of Ghana a unique opportunity to interact with industry players and share our vision for the financial sector.
This year’s chosen theme, that is, “The Role of Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) in Financial Inclusion” captures the very core of the rural banking concept, that is, providing financial services to t he deprived, under-served and the un -served segments in the various communities.
This is what financial inclusion is all about and this important occasion provides a great platform for the Bank of Ghana to share its policy perspectives on how rural banks can reposition themselves to effectively deliver this mandate.
Chairman, RCBs have been part of Ghana’s financial system for more than four decades, and were licensed by the Bank of Ghana to undertake financial intermediation, facilitate payment system transactions, and promote savings and investment culture in the rural areas.
The primary objective was to make institutional credit and other financial services easily available to the local communities and under relatively less intimidating conditions than the traditional banks.
In essence, individuals – particularly low-income households, the vulnerable and less privileged – can have access to affordable financial services and products to ease transactions, payments, savings and credit needs to ensure financial inclusion.
Today, f inancial inclusion has progressed from a simple strategy for poverty alleviation to a key policy tool for achieving sustainable growth.
Increasing access to financial services, such as savings accounts, loans, payment services, insurance, and pensions for households and firms is now critical to national development and contribute significantly to economic growth, poverty alleviation, and job creation.
Chairman, despite the importance of financial inclusion for national development, about 40% of Ghanaians lack access to formal financial serv ices.
According to the Global Financial Index Report 2017 published by the World Bank, a ccess to formal financial services in Ghana grew from 40.5% in 2014 to 57.7% in 201 7.
Regrettably, Ghana lags behind many of its peers, such as South Africa (85%), Kenya (75%), Rwanda (68%), and Lesotho (61%).
These trends suggest that despite the strides that Ghana has attained especially in mobile money account ownership which has more than quadrupled in less than a decade, there is more scope for improvement.
In this regard, RCBs have a crucial role to play in supporting the Government to achieve the objectives of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy with a target of an increase from current 57.7% access to formal financial services to 75% by 2023.
As t he national strategy focuses on increasing formal financial inclusion , implementing partners such as the RCBs must leverage technology to reach the under-banked and the un -banked in the local communities.
Technology and financial innovation provide opportunities for widening access to financial services by 5 creating opportunities for branchless banking and real time access to bank accounts and financial services.
Chairman, many rural dwellers have mobile phones which opens up a whole new possibility for the under -served and un- banked to access mobile money accounts and other digital financial services.
To deepen financial inclusion further, RCBs must use their unique positions in the rural communities to introduce digital financial services to reach the un -banked via mobile technology.
Access to affordable finance will also enable the rural poor and vulnerable to undertake economic activities and take advantage of growth opportunities for economic empowerment.
RCBs should therefore invest in the appropriate IT infrastructure (or where possible partner with FINTECHS) to enable them reach out to the un-banked within their catchment areas to deepen financial inclusion.
Ladies and gentlemen, this celebration is taking place at a time when the Bank of Ghana has announced the completion of reforms in the banking and SDI sector; and a time when a lot of gains have been made in price and financial stability ; and confidence is being restored.
The banking and SDI sector is 6 currently strong and better positioned to withstand external shocks compared to the situation at the beginning of 2017.
The remaining institutions are better capitalized, liquid, profitable, and more efficient and have adequate capital buffers to enable it manage any adverse external developments.
Recent data suggests that broadly, the RCB sector is stable and significant progress has been made to improve financial performance.
As at end of July 2019 , one hundred and fourteen (114) RCBs had met the paid -up capital of GH¢1,000,000.00 million, thirteen (13) RCBs recorded varied paid-up capital ranging from GH¢500,000.00 to GH¢1,000,000.00; while seventeen (17) RCBs showed paid -up capital below GH¢500,00 0.00.
In addition, the average Capital Adequacy Ratio of RCBs as at end July, 2019 was 13.
9%, above the 10% threshold .
Also, one hundred and thirty RCBs (or 90.3% of the total number of RCBs) had complied with the minimum primary reserve requirement of 8.0 % with average primary reserves of 18.2%.
Non-performing Loans (NPLs) of RCBs improved marginally over the review period to 11.87% from 12.5% at end July 2018.
Chairman, despite the good performance of RCBs, the Bank of Ghana is aware of the challeng es facing the sector and their unique role in the rural communities.
It is for this reason that the Bank of Ghana decided not to include the rural and community bank segment of the financial sector in the reform process that began in 2017 because of its cr iticality to the financial inclusion agenda of the government .
However, you will also agree with me that the rural banks that wish to deploy resources towards the financial inclusion drive must be strong, liquid and well -capitalised.
It is unfortunate that our assessment over the years is almost reflective of what happened in the banking and SDIs sectors.
A number of RCBs are faced with serious regulatory and supervisory concerns such as , low capital adequacy ratios, regulatory violat ions, weak lending and risk management practices and weak corporate governance systems which have rendered them distressed.
In this regard and as noted earlier of their critical role in financial inclusion agenda, the Bank of Ghana is working together with the Ministry of Finance and the Apex Bank to implement a reform plan to that is seeking to address the 8 current challenges facing the rural and community banks.
The Bank of Ghana is also working closely with the Association of Rural Banks to tighten supervision and regulatory compliance including meeting the minimum capital requirement to address the non -performing loans.
In this regard, the Bank of Ghana has extended the deadline for meeting the minimum paid -up capital to February 28, 2020.
I entreat all RCBs to put measures in place to comply with this directive to build stronger and more resilient RCBs.
The receivership is currently ongoing for the MFIs and Savings and Loans and finance houses whose licenses were withdrawn.
After the initial slow start due to poor records and documentation, we can confirm that validation has increased significantly and quite a large number of depositors have started receiving their money.
More recently the government took a decision to increase the cap on pa y-outs from GHC10,000 to GHC20,000, which will cater for about 98 percent of depositors being made whole.
That said, we are aware that a number of large institutional depositors (including financial institutions, especially rural banks) have their funds beyond GHC20,000 locked up.
I would want to announce that 9 an understanding has been reached among the MOF, BoG and the receiver to find a way to unlock these funds.
Discussions on modalities are ongoing, and once concluded , will be announced very soon.
Chairman, the Bank of Ghana will continue to tighten regulation, ensure stricter supervision and enforcement of prudential and statutory requirements to safeguard financial stability and protect depositors.