The chairman of Groupe Nduom, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has stated GN Bank will surely meet the minimum capital requirement set by the Bank of Ghana.
The BoG at a meeting with Managing Directors of commercial banks last Friday announced the increase in the minimum capital requirement from GH¢120 million to GH¢400 million.
Commercial banks would be given up to December 2018 to meet the new capital requirements which represents an increase of 233 percent.
However, speaking in an interview with journalists in Accra, Dr. Nduom said although he disagrees with the BoG, plans to raise the money has already begun.
“Our intent definitely is to meet that requirement and we should be able to do so. We may disagree with the Bank of Ghana on this one. But they make the rules. We will raise the funds needed. GN Bank is here to stay and make a positive difference in the lives of the people in the towns and villages our bank was set up to serve,” he noted.
He also called on other Ghanaian-owned banks to do well to meet the December 2018 deadline.
‘BoG minimum capital not good’
Dr. Nduom said the BoG’s decision to increase the minimum capital requirement for all banks from GH¢120m to GH¢400m was not a good move.
According to him, banks have different focus and target groups and as such, some make more money than others and so asking all of them to fulfill the same requirement will only lead to the collapse of some banks.
He said, “There are banks that have different purposes, different goals so to lump all the banks together and say that everybody must meet a certain minimum requirement without regard to their business objectives or their goals or their business plan for me it is not right for a system such as what we have here in Ghana.”
According to Dr. Nduom, the Bank of Ghana can draw lessons from countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America where people can set up banks with as little as £10,000,000 and $5,000,000 respectively based on their objectives.
He noted there should not be efforts to force the reduction of banks in Ghana as that will not augur well for the country in the long-run.
