A new bank, The Construction Bank (Gh) Ltd, has been launched in Accra. Wholly owned by Ghanaians, the bank seeks to provide banking services in Project Finance, Commercial and Consumer Banking with specializastion in construction, infrastructure and mortgage financing. It is the only specialized financial service partner for Ghana’s real estate, construction community and infrastructure development. As a universal bank, it will also provide general banking services to cover commercial and consumer propositions.

In a welcome address, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, Dr Asare Akuffo said that “the focus of most of the existing players in banking have been on the retail and commercial sectors of the market without any dedicated offering to the construction and infrastructure segments despite the growth potential it holds.”

Dr Asare Akuffo noted that “the examples of successful economies in the world over the past half century, indicates that Ghana is in the process of experiencing tremendous growth in commercial and residential real estate, infrastructure, and related industries. This identified growth establishes the need for financial products and services that will help nurture and sustain these sectors. The Construction Bank will be the preferred partner that will provide this support,” said Dr Asare Akuffo.

He said that various Governments have, over the years,” expressed the desire to close the housing and infrastructure deficit but this cannot be fully attained without partnership among the key players with finance providing the needed backbone. “He pointed out that this need was the motivation behind their desire “to enter a very competitive market at a very exciting time in the history of this country.”

The Board Chairman noted that the vision of the bank is “to be the bank of choice for construction and infrastructure development financing with our name synonymous with innovation, technology, quality customer care and affordability.”

The Construction Bank will operate with Yellow, Blue, and Green colours. The yellow represents construction and infrastructure and also brings inspiration, originality and creativity to the products and services that would be designed and offered to this niche market. The blue represents a commitment to loyalty, honesty, trust, security, and confidence. The green signifies sustainability.

Dr Asare Akuffo stated that the bank plans to expand, in the near future, to Kumasi, Sekondi, Takoradi, and Tamale.

The Vice President, H.E. Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, who was the Guest of Honour for the occasion, officially unveiled a plaque to mark the commencement of business of the bank. In a speech at the launch event, Dr Bawumia said that the construction industry was poised to offer a lot of job opportunities to Ghanaians. He said that Ghana had the highest mortgage to income ratio in the world and was hopeful that the Construction Bank would work closely with the real estate and construction sectors to help reduce the housing gap in the country.

Dr Bawumia noted that unlike happened in the past,contracts would be awarded only when money was available to pay for those contracts.

He said that a few things were being put in place to help formalize the way things are done in this country which would also help the banking system. Enumerating them, Dr Bawumia said that by the end of the year, every Ghanaian would have a National ID card and there would be a national digital address system for easy identification of people and places. There would also be an inter-operable payment system where people would be able to make payments across platforms and across different financial institutions.

The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Millison Narh, in a goodwill message noted that The Construction Bank is the 34th major bank in the country and the first to be licensed this year. He said that the opening of the bank is an affirmation of the growing importance of the construction industry in Ghana.