About 20 banks in the country have met the GH₵400 million new minimum capital requirement set by the Bank of Ghana.
This indicates their readiness to continue as commercial or universal banks after December 2018 per the Bank of Ghana requirements.
This was revealed by the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Elsie Awadzi during the maiden JoyBusiness Financial Services Forum under the theme, ‘the changing tide of Ghana’s financial services sector, the cause, the cost and the cleanup.’
“What the Central Bank is doing is just to build a strong financial industry for the Ghanaian economy. So far there are about some 20 of the commercial banks that have already provided the new capital requirement and have been satisfied by the Bank of Ghana,” she noted.
According to her, the Central Bank will not hesitate to revoke licenses of non-compliant banks by the end of the December 31st deadline.
She explained, “We have made this known to the various banks from the beginning of our engagements that whichever banks that will not be able to meet the requirement won’t be allowed to operate.
Banking is a business that requires capital so if you can’t meet the required capital then we have no option.”
“This is a painful pill we have to take to ensure it is resilient in the sector” she concludes.
Myjoyonline