22nd out of 27 banks on non-performing loans

If there is any doubt that the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) is been run down, then the latest performance indicators of the nation’s 27 commercial banks is the answer.

The Bank has put up disastrous performance on all the indicators, and there is no wonder that staff members are up in arms against the management on the way forward for the bank.

The workers have signaled that they would not sit unconcern while the management of the bank and their cronies outside the bank continue to rape the bank and ruin their careers.

ADB placed 19th out of the 27 banks on Interest Income Ranking. This ranking, according to the Performance Indicators is the income earned by bank on their loans and investments.

On interest Expense Ranking, the bank placed 17th out of 27 banks. The ranking signifies the interest paid on customer’s deposit.

The performance of the bank on the staff cost per employee ranking is also abysmal. The bank placed 25 out of the 27 banks being graded.

Perhaps the worst performance of the bank on the 2014 rankings is on the staff cost to operating income. “This is the ratio of staff cost to the bank’s operating income. The higher the percentage, the worse it is,” according to the report.

On non-performing loans ranking, the bank placed 22nd out of 27th. “This is the ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) to the total loans of the banks...”

The above indicators are among the several indicators that portrayed the hitherto promising ADB, as a bank going on its knees and been run down as The aL-hAJJ has been reporting in the last couple of weeks.

Insiders have told this paper that management of the bank is hiding the appalling performance of the bank to its customers and the general public and rather deceiving itself that the bank is doing well.

Experts who spoke to The aL-hAJJ have indicated that with this grim picture of a collapsing bank, the attempts or the preparations towards listing of the bank on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), though a Cabinet decision, could also be a smokescreen by the incompetent and corrupt management and that it is just a matter of time that the reality will begin to dawn on the management and government, its main shareholder, that something has to be done to change the direction of the bank before the issues of listing is further pursued.

The expert added that, the issue of listing on GSE is meant to hide the failure of the management of the bank and to give a false hope to both government and the general public that the prospect of the bank is very high.

“You do not send rotten materials to the market for sale no matter the power of your advertisement and no matter how persuasive your PR machine is. The market would expose you badly. That is what is happening with the bank on these issues. So in their own interest, the management of ADB should do more work in the coming months to ensure that the bank is brought back to good health before they take the next step.

“Government may have to intervene to change the direction and fortunes of the bank for the better if the management is unable or unwilling to take the necessary steps,” the expert said.

For the past few weeks, The aL-hAJJ has been publishing stories on corruption, sleaze and crony capitalism at the state-owned ADB.

Incontrovertible evidence available to this paper indicates that top management members of the bank have advertised and bought the bank’s most profitable assets including its offices.

Some other big interests outside the bank were also said to have purchased some of the properties. The aL-hAJJ is vigorously pursuing information on all those who have immorally and corruptly bought the bank’s assets and render the bank almost bankrupt.