Mr Franklin Cudjoe, founding President of policy think tank IMANI Africa, has advised local banks to ensure that they meet the guidelines and the GHS400 million minimum capital requirement of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) or go into the microfinance industry.

“They should simply obey the Central Bank's directives. If they cannot come up with the capital requirements, they can become microfinance or 'Susu' institutions,” Mr Cudjoe stated in a Facebook post on Wednesday, 18 April 2018.

He was at a loss as to “why some Ghanaian-owned local banks are running to the presidency for cover”.

Mr Cudjoe was concerned that: “We shout local content and when given the opportunity, some of these Ghanaian local bank managers and owners behave like Arabian princes paying all manner of ridiculous wages to themselves and staff and supporting unproductive ventures with people's deposits. No! No! No!”

The BoG in December 2017 increased its minimum capital requirement for commercial banks from GHS120 million to GHS400 million.

The Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Ernest Addison, stated that all the commercial banks are required to submit a recapitalisation plan to the regulator by December 2017.

The BoG had maintained that this move is to ensure that the regulator is fully aware of how these banks are working to meet the new capital levels.