They argue that the development is unchecked, could affect consumer deposits and distort the sector.

It has also emerged that apart from Ecobank, the over 35 local banks operating in the country are yet to secure their data with professional data centers on a cloud software, to minimize complexities in case their servers suffer an attack.

Unlike most banks in the developed world and South Africa and Kenya in Africa, who are already on the cloud software, banks in Ghana have their servers located in one of their branch offices where they access their data from; a situation Darrel Orsmond, head of Banking Industry at SAP Africa, a global technology company, described as risky.

“The banks in Ghana have large legacy problems like a lot of banks across Africa, they’ve built one piece of software systems that does savings account, there’s another one that does credit cards, and another does HR and sometimes they haven’t got a finance system and a lot of excel spread sheets,” he told Citi Business News on the sidelines of the SAP Innovation Day held in Accra.

Darrel explained further that, “In the past, banks would buy some software and install it on their own computer in the bank but with clouds somebody runs that software for you in a computer center and when you are doing your transaction you access that data without going to your machine in your basement. Once they go onto the cloud they focus on running the business which is what they should be doing.”

According to him, core transaction that is done in a month can take some few days and most of the time instantaneous.

“The real benefit comes when you need to develop new products or make changes. These can take the banks years to do but can be done on the cloud within 60 to 90 days,” he added.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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The facility, with five years tenure, comes in two parts; the fixed five year term facility of GH¢ 345 million with 24 months moratorium to support capital expenditure plans; and the Revolving Credit Facility of GH¢165 million over the five year period for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Speaking at a ceremony to sign the loan agreement, the Chief Finance Officer and Ag. Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Modupe Kadri, said, “MTN Ghana requires flexible funding to meet our esteemed stakeholders’ expectations. We are therefore pleased that today through this syndicated facility, we have succeeded in partnering nine (9) local banks to raise GH¢ 510 million”.

“The huge interest in MTN’s business is a clear testament to how successful our business is, and the excellent financial health the business enjoys” he added.

The signing of the loan facility follows an initial debt raising transaction in 2012 of $300 million, and its successful repayment by MTN Ghana in May 2017.

MTN’s track record and strong leadership position paved the way for yet another successful capital market transaction.

This big-ticket Ghana transaction was arranged jointly by Ecobank Ghana Limited and Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC), as Mandate Lead Arrangers with Barclays Bank Ghana Limited as joint facility and Security Agents.

The syndicate banks are: Ecobank Ghana Limited, GCB Bank Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Limited, Barclays Bank Ghana Limited, Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited, Societe Generale Ghana, Zenith Bank Ghana Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana Limited and Fidelity Bank Limited.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post MTN Ghana signs GH₵ 510m loan facility to expand infrastructure appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The startups will be honoured on June 21, 2017 at the global Headquarters of the Company in Lome, Togo at an Innovation Fair & Awards ceremony. The awards ceremony also marks the official induction of all 20 start-ups into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship.

The awards ceremony will also mark the official induction of all 20 start-ups into the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship.

At the ceremony, the start-ups will exhibit and pitch their products to a jury for the ‘Ecobank Africa Fintech Prize’, which will be awarded the top innovator and two runners-up.

In addition to the fellowship program, the top three innovators will win cash prizes worth US$10,000, US$7,000, and US$5,000 respectively.

The 20 Ecobank Fintech Fellows will benefit from an opportunity to partner with the Ecobank Group that includes:

• Major start-up funding: worth up to US$500,000 for products that meet Ecobank’s investment criteria;

• Multinational product roll-out support: for the most commercially viable start-ups to launch their products across Ecobank’s 33 markets in Africa;

• Service provider & ecosystem partner deals: for start-ups with deep capabilities to become service partners within Ecobank’s ecosystem;

• Technical & mentoring support: during the one year fellowship period, fellows will benefit from technical support from Ecobank’s global network of technology leaders, fintech experts, investors and management coaches.

Eddy Ogbogu, Ecobank Group Executive for Operations and Technology said, “The Ecobank Fintech Challenge has been a huge success; over 850 start-ups and developers submitted products from all over Africa, as well as the US and Europe. The sheer breath of innovative products and ideas we’ve seen shows that African fintech has a bright future.”

Group CEO, Ade Ayeyemi, highlighted: “As a pan-African bank, we want to help grow pan-African fintech companies. The Ecobank Group and its partners are looking forward to working with the 20 start-ups to help them mature into major African and global commercial success stories.”

The 20 start-ups are:

Piggybank.ng (Nigeria),

Digi Teller (Ghana),

MobiTill (Kenya),

TEAM SAFEPAY (Kenya),

Wallettec (South Africa),

Greenshoe (Kenya),

Invest Mobile (Ghana),

KUDI(Nigeria),

Wayagear Innovations Lagos (Nigeria),

Paylater OneFi (Nigeria),

PAYVITE (Algeria),

PurseNG (Nigeria),

Shield Finance (Kenya),

IroFit(Nigeria),

Circle Group Savings and Investment (Kenya),

Inclusive Financial Technologies (Ghana),

Electronic Settlement Limited(Nigeria),

Social Lender (Nigeria), General Marchant (United States),

Mi Nafa (Burkina Faso).

Ecobank Fintech Challenge is designed in partnership with the advisory firm Konfidants and supported by partners across Africa and the world.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ecobank announces finalists of 2017 Ecobank Fintech Challenge appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.