legislation governing credit delivery and also seeks to promote a secured transactions regime ( str ) with defined legal framework for credit, improved standards of disclosure, transparency and speedy enforcement mechanisms. mr. chairman, an important organ to be established by act 773 to facilitate the achievement of these objectives was the collateral registry. soon after the passage of the act in december 2008, the bank, commenced activities towards establishing a collateral registry. on the 1st of february 2010, the bank established a functional semi - automated collateral registry. in line with international best practices, the registry is to provide services such as : bis central bankers ’ speeches • registration of charges and collaterals. • provision of avenues for lending institutions and the general public to conduct searches on registered charges and collaterals. • assisting in speeding up realisation of collaterals upon default by a borrower. • effecting discharges of registered charges and collaterals upon application by the lender or the registrant and • renewal of registration. following its establishment, the bank moved a step further and collaborated with the international finance corporation ( ifc ) which also seeks to promote access to credit in africa, to upgrade ghana ’ s collateral registry to an international standard secured transactions registry. the project with ifc involved upgrading of the systems, processes and the underlying legal and regulatory framework of the ghana collateral registry to a standard which would be comparable globally. the swiss state secretariat for economic affairs [ seco ] provided a grant to enable ifc with local support from the bank of ghana, implement the project. this included a legal review component which resulted in the issuance of rules for effective implementation of act 773 and amendments to the act. also, a web - based registry system has been developed and was rolled out, on 25th june 2012, ensuring full - automation and global access to the services of the registry. in the area of capacity building and public awareness, the project has undertaken several training programs for financial institutions on the web - based collateral registry system. also, seminars have been held for lawyers, law firms, commercial court judges and respective associations on the provisions of act 773, and the operating rules of the registry. mr. chairman, let me say that within three years of operation, the registry has performed remarkably. by the end of march 2013, a total of 49, 096 charges ( secured loans ) with 104, 308 collaterals had been registered. of these, 80. 6 per cent were movable assets, 13. 3 per cent were

abdul - nashiru issahaku : developing ghana ’ s banking system speech by dr abdul - nashiru issahaku, governor of the bank of ghana, at the inauguration of the sunyani regional office building, sunyani, 30 june 2016. * * * nananom board of directors of bank of ghana representatives of banks in the brong - ahafo region representatives of security agencies in the brong - ahafo region heads of departments regional managers my cherished members of staff distinguished ladies and gentlemen good morning i am delighted to welcome you all to the inauguration of our new sunyani regional office building. let me sincerely thank the chiefs and people of sunyani, in fact, the brong ahafo region for making the land available to us. this is a clear indication of the support and collaboration between the bank and the chiefs. and let me also take this opportunity to thank the immediate past governor of the bank of ghana dr. henry kofi wampah for spearheading this project and seeing to its completion. as we may all be aware, prior to the construction of this ultra - modern office complex, the sunyani regional office had operated from the second floor of a building whose lower floors were occupied by gcb bank. the regulator sharing office with the client is not ethically sound and exposes the bank to familiarity threats. in addition, the former office did not have a banknote processing capacity and depended on the kumasi regional office for the processing of its deposits as well as fit - sorting banknotes for re - issuance to banks and other financial institutions in its catchment area. we have been under pressure and in a hurry to catch up and provide the facilities necessary to deliver the required services in the region and make a difference. the inauguration of this magnificent sunyani regional office with adequate space for a banking hall to be serviced by four tellers, an office space for cheque codeline clearing supported by a back office to serve customers, and fully equipped offices, is one of the eloquent testimonies to show that the bank of ghana is living up to expectations for posterity in this region and the country as a whole. beyond providing this beautiful edifice to reduce the stress in relation to inadequate office accommodation for workers, we have also made provision for a cash processing centre which is yet to have the full complement of machines. a state of the art electronic security and fire - fighting systems have been