Following collapse of some struggling banks in the country leading to the recapitilisation by Bank of Ghana, customer confidence has soared, the Central Bank has observed.
Addressing a group of professionals at a roundtable discussion organised by Integrity Magazine, Head of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana Osei Gyasi maintained that a number of new regulations and directories have been put in place which are fast producing the desired results.
He stated that in the area of depositing by customers, there have been a surge since confidence have grown in the banks operating after the recapitilisation process.
“…recent statistics indicate that loans have started growing, deposits of banks have also started picking up. What it means is that now people are now more confident. Looking at the balance sheet of banks they think that their deposits will be protected and what it means is that savings is also going up” Mr. Gyasi stated.
He was optimistic that the recent developments will go a long way to improve the macro-economic indicators.
“…As these savings are going up, as the additional capital introduced by the banks are channeled into the private sector we should expect that there will be a growth or improvement in the macro-economic indicators.
Mr. Osei Gyasi was the guest speaker of the Integrity Magazine Roundtable Discussion themed: “Ensuring macroeconomic stability through effective and trusted banking.
In 2018 the Bank of Ghana quelled the operations of 13 banks leaving 23 to operate across the country after an intensive recapitilisation process.
In February this year, Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Ernest Addison in an interaction with the media also stressed that the recapitilisation process has been immensely profitable noting that “the NonPerforming Loans (NPL) ratio has declined from 21.6 per cent in February 2018 to 18.2 per cent in February 2019, signalling some moderation in the industry’s exposure to credit risk.
The on-going write-off policy and strengthening of bank’s risk management practices is expected to further impact positively on the industry’s NPLs going forward."