The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has warned that it will not license financial institutions that do not meet the criteria set out by the bank.
There are concerns that the number of banks in Ghana may shoot up next year as more banks line up to secure licenses from the regulator.
Even though there are currently 32 banks in the country, the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah speaking at the launch of OmniBank urged the governor of the central bank to license Ghanaian banks that meet all requirements to help create jobs.
But reacting to the request, the Head of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana, Raymond Amanfu disclosed that the central bank has in certain times declined some financial institutions that do not meet the requirements.
According to him, the bank has always applied the rules and regulations fairly across board to maintain sanity in the banking sector.
“We are not stopping licensing of new banks neither are we giving everybody who comes for a license, there are some license we have declined because they don’t meet the criteria so the fact that somebody comes and say I want a license, it is not automatic,” he said.
Stressing the central bank’s role in shaping the industry, Mr. Amanfu explained that the industry is very important to the sustainability of the economy.
He pointed out that, the banking sector serves the monetary needs, hence stakeholders must be allowed to compete to determine the number of banks in the country.
He stated that the central bank cannot cap the number of banks since it currently do not have such powers.
“It’s not the question of how many banks, it is a question of how strong the banks are and when you have competition it will drive it down,” he noted.
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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews/Ghana