Accra, Feb. 20, GNA - Fidelity Bank and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) are to collaborate to build capacity for journalists in banking and finance.

Mr Edward Effah, Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, who announced this on Friday, said the bank would participate in this year's GJA Journalists of the Year Awards scheduled for August 2010. He was speaking at the maiden GJA/Fidelity Bank Media Soiree in Accra on Friday.

Mr Effah noted that the media had made significant progress in educating the public about the banking sector, financial services and products, however, there should be more progress in this sector with the focus on business, wealth creation, entrepreneurship, banking and finance than over focusing on politics. Mr Ransford Tetteh, National President of GJA observed that Ghana did not suffer greatly from the effects of the global downturn as experienced in most developed countries.

He said the interaction with the banking sector was an opportunity to reflect on the role of the sector in Ghana's economy, understand operations of the banks and the financial sector. Mr Tetteh noted that with such an encounter, the media was expected to monitor activities in the sector in order that Ghana could not face crisis encountered in Europe and other developed countries. Fidelity Bank operated for eight years as Fidelity Discount House limited, a wholesale money market broker from 1998 to 2006 and to provide enhanced range of products, the shareholders decided to convert its operations into a fully fledged bank. The bank obtained a universal banking licence on June 28, 2006 from the Bank of Ghana and the bank was launched on October 6, 2006. The bank began with a branch in 2006 and now has 17 branches throughout the country with 55,000 customers and planned to establish at least 25 branches nation-wide by the end of the year in Accra, Tema, Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale.