To meet Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) new minimum capital requirement of GHS 400,000,000, stakeholders of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), have given a nod to the bank to secure an amount of GHC127,000,000 through the Ghana Amalgamated Trust PIc (GAT).

Securing the above amount, will enable the ADB increase its stated capital to GHC400,000,000, as the bank could not raise the required amount on its own at its current state.

The stakeholders authorised the Directors of the company to undertake a private placement of ordinary shares of the company with GAT PIc for the consideration of the GHC127,000,000 in order to increase the the company’s stated capital to GHC400,000,000 at an annual general meeting which was held in Accra today (Wednesday).

Amongst others, the meeting was to waive the pre-emptive rights of shareholders in relation to the ordinary shares to be be issued to the GAT PIc in relation to the private placement and to also authorise the Directors of the company, subject to applicable rules, to determine the terms, timing and pricing of the private placement.

The shareholders also proposed that the bank work towards achieving more than BoG’s minimum capital requirement of GHC 400,000,000 so that in case the BoG in future raises the money, they will still be relevant.

Challenge

Speaking at the meeting, the Board Chairman of the ADB, Mr Alex Bernasko explained that the bank had some difficulty in meeting the BoG’s minimum capital requirement because it could not make what the bank made in 2017 in 2018.

He also stressed that people were owing the bank about GHC600,000,000, adding that the ABD was still chasing the debtors to retrieve the money.

“We the Board Members call the debtors to discuss why they are not paying their dept and some of the response are genuine while others are not and we sent some to court upon which the court also gave judgment and we are going into execution,” he said.

Mr Bernasko added that, “We have to place an embargo on their properties and sell if we can, in order to get our monies back. The money they owe us is a lot and if it comes we will all be happy at the ADB, and we can do a lot of business, we are hoping to make more profit in 2019 than we did in 2018.”

Agric

Touching on the banks five year strategic plan which has emphasis on supporting agricultural related activities, Mr Bernasko said the bank will continue to support farmers with loans to boost their businesses.

“Government set up the ADB to activate and support agric, because most of the banks were afraid to support agric because of lack of rainfall and the fear of limited harvest, but now the government has seen that the ADB is doing well and therefore is supporting us so that we can also help grow the sector,” he said.

“We have also set up an Agric department which has about 36 desk which advises farmers and we encouraged our staff to support whoever brings anything agric and lead them to the authorities for support and also to help address their challenge,”Mr Bernasko said.

Meanwhile, he debunked rumours that a private bank was going to take over the ADB, assuring the public of the growth of the bank.

“No bank is taking over the ADB, it will remain as it it,” he said.

For her part, the Deputy Finance Minister and Board Member of ADB, Ms Abena Osei-Asare, assured the public that government will not relent on its efforts to ensure the stability of the ADB.

She called on all the stakeholders to continue to support the ADB, so that the bank is able to grow and also help businesses grow as well as the economy and assured job security.