Citi Business News has gathered that the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has begun a process to acquire a license from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to operate a universal bank.

The move is part of the association’s strategy to expand and upgrade the Teachers Fund (TF) financial services.

The financial service is an investment portfolio of the Teacher’s Fund run by the association. If approved by the BoG, it will be the first bank established by a worker association in the country.

It is unclear how far GNAT has gone with the process to raise GHC 100 million minimum cedi capital required but Citi Business News has learnt the bank will be situated in the GNAT heights.

The Resource Centre Manager of GNAT, Ernest Asamoah told Citi Business News, the move will improve its profitability and enhance loan-accessibility to teachers.

“It is to grow the teachers fund; our very own teachers will take the loans. We have our TF financial services and if it has grown big why don’t we go into the banking which is bigger than just the financial services. So it is a matter of spreading our tentacles and making more money-that is why we need to have a bank,” he said.

Mr Asamoah said the bank will understand the problems of teachers more than other banks.

“We have a bigger client’s base as well. But that does not mean only teachers are going to enjoy this facility, it is going to be open to the outside world just like the TF financial services. We can’t say this is teacher’s bank and is for only teachers”.