GCB bank took over the two banks in 2017 with the permission of the BoG because they were unable to increase the capital requirements needed for their operations.

The Minority in its letter made three demands including being furnished with the purchase and assumption transaction document to update themselves on the issues that warranted the takeover.

[contextly_sidebar id=”PdviNrOLd4AGZ4VijWdRLX202yySl0Ec”]Speaking to Citi News’ Parliamentary correspondent, Duke Mensah Opoku on Wednesday, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, said the group is only seeking further clarity on the transaction.

“We are asking for clarity in the provision of certain information that we deemed outstanding, relating to the two banks that were liquidated of which the central bank signed and purchased an assumption transaction with GCB. As we speak, the public does not know anything about it. We have read from an IMF document that says that the government of Ghana represented by the Ministry of Finance is going to arrange some bond issuance, about one percent of GDP which is about 1.6 to 2 billion cedis to defray the cost relating to the collapse of the two banks.”

“The argument is that who is going to pay? Is it going to be a public debt? The bond is going to be serviced through the consolidated fund and I know that as we speak, plans are far advanced, they’ve completed the discussion on the debt and it has come to about GHc2 billion.”

Ato Forson complained that as representatives of the people of Ghana, “we don’t seem to have any information about it, and it is important that, at the minimum, that ought to have come to Parliament for approval and the people’s representatives get copies of the purchase and the assumption transaction that the central bank signed with the GCB bank.”

The other two technical issues the Minority members are demanding clarity on include the cutoff rules as enshrined in the public financial management act, and the financial administration regulation as well as clarity on a supposed 7 billion outstanding arrears which they said had been adjusted.

Unibank moves to control majority interest in adb

This comes on the back of a purported control of the Agricultural Development Bank (adb) by Unibank.

Belstar Capital, Starmount Development company, EDC as well as SIC Financial Services Limited, have all allegedly pledged their shares, proceeds, entitlement and voting rights to Unibank hence giving Unibank power over adb.

CEO of Unibank, Dr. Kwabena Duffour Jr. confirmed on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday that per the deal “we have the power and control to change it from adb. Down the line we might decide to do a proper transfer where we will need the approval of the various regulatory bodies but for now we have the power and control over it.”

Meanwhile, adb has however been suspended by the Ghana Stock Exchange, and the Bank of Ghana has also described the supposed deal as “null and void.”

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post Minority petitions BoG, wants details on UT, Capital Banks’ takeover appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

PwC is undertaking this exercise in its capacity as the receiver of the purchase and assumption agreement between GCB Bank and the two defunct banks.

Information available to Citi Business News indicates that the letters are being served to all employees of the two affected banks.

[contextly_sidebar id=”vgb3LEkSfY7citvESLbGJyySGNFaUAsW”]This is expected to affect about one thousand workers both of former UT and Capital banks.

According to PwC, any claim of the workers in terms of salary arrears, wages, leave, severance pay and other entitlement will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) and the Banks and Specialized Deposit Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).

“Your contract of employment with UT has been terminated as a result of the receivership effective 14 August 2017. Any claim you have against UT such as arrears of salaries, wages, leave, severance pay and other entitlement will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) and the Banks and Specialized Deposit Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930)”, portions of the letter stated.

Meanwhile, PwC says it will engage with the necessary workers Union or representatives in the provision of what is due the workers.

But the payment of part or all of the amounts due the workers will be dependent on the timing and level of realization of the two banks’ assets.

The Managing Director of GCB Bank, Ray Sowah, in an earlier interview with Citi Business News said his outfit will absorb some of the workers.

Mr. Sowah however explained that would be achieved after a skills assessment.

“We shall conduct a skills assessment. As part of integration process we need to know that we can bring everyone on board or not. This is an expanded institution and as we go through the integration, we should know what jobs to close down and what jobs to retain,” he remarked.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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GCB beat competition from other intuitions in this category like First National Bank Ghana, Afriland First Bank of Liberia, Swaziland Building Society and Al Baraka Bank ,South Africa.

In all, 10 awards were picked up by several organizations and individuals that have distinguished themselves in areas of risk managementand compliance for last year.

GCB has in place rigorous and time tested procedures, processes, measures and Risk and Compliance Departments necessary for regulatory requirements as a commercial bank in country and even in the Africa region.

The Association of Certified Compliance Professionals is said to be Africa’s largest and most influential professional body.

It has over 2500 members from over 450 final institutions in 46 African countries and was foundered in January 2015 and has become the continent’s leading organisation on all matters relating to compliance.

Managing Director Mr. Anselm Ray Sowah, applauded the Compliance team for their sterling work and performance.

He urged the staff of the Bank and the Compliance team to uphold the standard in the interest of the Bank.

Following the assumption of UT Bank and Capital Banks by GCB;Mr.Sowah tasked the compliance team to play a center role in the integration process as staff of the two banks join GCB.

Present at the ceremony was the Head of Compliance Mr. Osman Abdulai, Head of Human Resource, Mr. Francis Danyi and staff from the Compliance Department.

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Credit: GCB

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The researchers– Professor Anthony Aboagye and Effa Ahinkrah showed in their report that some thirteen banks, including the UT Bank were on the verge of collapse.

According to the findings, most of the banks sampled did not diversify their loan portfolios; a situation the researchers said had the tendency to collapse those institutions.

Professor Aboagye while throwing more light on the research on the Citi Breakfast Show said they predicted imminent doom for some three banks which included a big bank in Ghana, but did not mention the names.

He however noted that Capital bank was not captured in the research because “they were fairly new and got their universal licence in December 2013 and we had started charting these banks as far back as 2011 so we did not include Capital in what we did simply because there was not enough data for them but UT bank, we did and it was one of them [predicted to collapse].”

Click below for audio of the full explanation on the Citi Breakfast Show:

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post How Ghanaian researchers predicted UT bank’s doom [Audio] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Chief Executive Officer of the GCB Bank, Ray Sowah at a press conference on Tuesday said not all the staff of the former banks will be employed adding that even those who will be retained will still undergo a skills assessment requirement.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4qlxm223CIbOhGMSL3wtmJsrBJ9RhoRe”]Meanwhile speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, the Employment and Labour Relations Minister said although his outfit has not been contacted by any aggrieved worker yet, he will initiate processes to protect the workers who might be be affected by the takeover.

“I together with TUC is seeking to have an engagement with the stakeholders somewhere early next week so that we will bring all the parties to a roundtable and have a discussion as to how the affected workers are going to be dealt with or whether or not there are going to be retained by the GCB bank. If they are going off, what is the severance arrangement and what have you, we will do that arrangement somewhere next week.”

“This is just our initiative because formally, nobody has brought this issue to us. I would have expected us being involved especially even at that negotiation level so that we will get to know whether there is a fair play….. I have the impression to believe that those negotiations were done at the local level and perhaps the parties were okay and that is why they’ve not brought it to us. But whatever it is, whether they are okay or not, we will want to know the considerations that went in,” he added.

GCB bank was on Monday given the green light to take over the two banks which according to the Bank of Ghana had “severe impairment of their capital.”

BoG further revoked the licenses while the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) also suspended the listing status of UT Bank.

“The news of the takeover came to us as a surprise. But I want to believe that the central bank decided to keep this very low profile…because they wanted to keep this whole issue in a confidential manner to avoid the run on the bank. I am not too worried about the number that will be retained or not, what I’m interested in is that even those who are not going to be retained, what is going to be done for them so that they will become a burden on society,” the Minister added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Collapsed banks: Labour Minister to meet GCB over workers’ fate appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ABnVQYqimSBmYrRYjIvHufIkhHSc8xLP”]At least about fifty percent of the workers of UT and Capital bank will be laid off, following the acquisition of the banks by GCB.

Citi News understands that the staff of the two banks who are a little over a thousand will be under probation for about six months under GCB before termination of their contracts.

It is believed that following the probation at least a quarter of workers of both banks will be absorbed while the remaining are likely to lose their jobs.

Mr. Davor on Eyewitness News explained that the responsibility lies with the liquidator, Pricewaterhousecoopers to find other job opportunities for those who would be affected by the development, and not necessarily GCB Bank.

“In the first place GCB Bank may not be obliged to engage workers of Capital Bank and UT Bank at all. They may choose to engage the services of employees but they may not be obliged,” he added.

“This is a partial liquidation and it is not as if Ghana Commercial Bank went in there to say that we are interested in these two banks so we are taking over the access and liabilities of the company so Ghana Commercial Bank may not have the responsibility to say they are obliged to engage the workers…”

Advice to affected workers

Mr. Davor further advised employees who are likely to be affected to engage relevant stakeholders who would ensure that they are treated fairly.

“I think the immediate thing is to get them organised. I am not too sure if any of the workers in these institutions belong to unions. If they don’t this is the time for them to engage in some expertise to represent and engage whoever they have to engage to ensure that they are not unfairly treated.

UT, Capital Bank staff to undergo skills assessment 

In a related development, staff of former banks; UT bank and Capital bank will undergo skills assessment requirements to qualify for employment at the GCB bank.

This was revealed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GCB, Raymond Sowah on Tuesday during a press conference.

“…We shall conduct a skills assessment as part of integration process we need to know that we can bring everyone onboard or not. This is an expanded institution and as we go through the integration we should know what jobs to close down and what jobs to retain,” he explained.

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By; Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post UT bank, Capital bank collapse: GCB not obliged to keep employees – Analyst appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Addressing the press on the development on Tuesday, the ranking member on Parliament’s Finance Committee Casiel Ato Forson urged the “Bank of Ghana to ensure that the acquiring bank in this case GCB which is the largest indigenous bank with both private and public shareholders is not overburdened unnecessarily with non-performing loans and impaired assets.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”00qH9pdyfibW08Ag7njzVWk1K78YFvhe”]He made the comment on the back of GCB’s takeover of UT and Capital banks on Monday.

GCB bank was given the opportunity to assume ownership of the two banks because according to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) the said banks had “severe impairment of their capital.”

BoG also revoked the licenses of the two banks while the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) also suspended the listing status of UT Bank.

However, Mr. Ato Forson at the press conference urged the BoG to ensure that depositors with the two banks do not lose their monies adding that “should this happen, it will result in an unforeseen burden on taxpayers instead of the original owners of UT and capital bank.”

“It is important for us to stress that GCB is a listed company and we are hoping that at the minimum the shareholders resolution was passed before this major transaction was taken. If that is not the case, we urge that the minority and public demand to know whether the resolution of GCB was very much so conducted or approved before this transaction was approved,” the Ato Forson added.

We followed due process

But the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GCB, Raymond Sowah who addressed the press on Tuesday explained that they did not require an immediate consultation with its shareholders before the move but said they used due process.

“If you were at the Bank of Ghana press conference, they indicated the sensitivity of the matter and therefore everything had to be hush-hush because they were concerned about certain things going wrong. Now we have a lot of respected shareholders. We could not say that we are going to conduct an AGM or EGM to ask this question. This is something that we can deal with post assumption,” he added.

Non-performing loans, banks headache

Figures from the BoG show that non–performing loans (NPL) in the banking sector increased by as high as 69.4% from GH¢ 3.6 billion in July 2015 to GH¢ 6.1 billion in July 2016.

The central bank claimed that most of the NPL also known as bad loans were contributed by mainly Ghanaian companies.

It also attributed the issue to a number of factors, including the general slowdown in the economy, increasing cost of production due to high utility tariffs and loan portfolio reclassification by some banks.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Don’t overburden GCB with non-performing loans – Minority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”sQEwuo1LcKcAfi83ysNsERs3BcAx31O8″]Following the revocation of the licenses of the two banks, concerns have been raised on the takeover without the consent of its shareholders.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, the Managing Director of GCB Ronald Sowah however said due diligence was followed in the acquisition of the two banks.

“When did the GCB come in?I must say that is a privileged information. I cannot disclose that to you. If you were at the Bank of Ghana press conference, they indicated the sensitivity of the matter and therefore everything had to be hush-hush because they were concerned about certain things going wrong. Now we have a lot of respected shareholders. We could not say that we are going to conduct an AGM or EGM to ask this question. This is something that we can deal with post assumption.”

UT Bank, Capital Bank employees to undergo skills assessment 

Reacting to concerns on the new staff of the bank, Mr Sowah gave the assurance that the necessary process will be followed in laying off some of the workers.

He said employees will undergo skills assessment to qualify for employment at GCB Bank.

“…We shall conduct a skills assessment as part of integration process we need to know that we can bring everyone onboard or not. This is an expanded institution and as we go through the integration we should know what jobs to close down and what jobs to retain,” he explained.

Why the takeover?

GCB was authorized to take over the two banks because according to the Central Bank, they had “severe impairment of their capital.”

The collapsed banks were also “unable to develop an acceptable plan”, according to the Central Bank which indicated in a statement that it made efforts to help UT Bank and Capital Bank recover via private alternatives.

The Central Bank said there were “repeated agreements between the Bank of Ghana and UT Bank and Capital Bank to implement an action plan to address these significant shortfalls.”

However, the owners and managers of UT Bank and Capital Bank were unable to increase the capital of the banks to address the insolvency.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post UT Bank, Capital Bank takeover: We followed due process – GCB Bank appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Saboba branch will bring banking services to the doorstep of customers in the area and other parts of eastern corridor of the Northern Region.

The Saboba branch brings to 17 the number of rebranded GCB bank limited branches in the Northern Region.

Managing Director of GCB bank limited, Ernest Mawuli Agbeshi at the official inaugural ceremony in Saboba said the Saboba branch is in recognition of the key contribution of residents to the national economy.

“Saboba is a unique business enclave, hence the opening of the branch as the first of its kind in the Northern Region since the bank’s rebranding.”

“With a population of 65,706, according to the 2010 population and housing census, Saboba district warrants the presence of a bank which is national in character like GCB.”

He reaffirmed the bank’s mission to place premium on Small and Medium Enterprises considered as the engine of national growth.

“GCB Saboba will offer all our banking services including deposit taking and investment facilitation. Specifically, all GCB products and services including our SME banking services, 24 hour personal loan, electronic banking services covering ATMs, SMS banking, internet banking and GCB mobile banking will offer.”

Mr. Agbeshi implored residents of Saboba and its environs to deepen their savings culture by patronizing the bank’s products.

He also encouraged residents of the area to take advantage of the bank’s investment facilities to expand their businesses.

The Paramount chief of Saboba, Ubor Cheek Binalibemi Kambonja I asked his people to stop keeping their money at home.

He bemoaned most residents practice of burying money under ground and most often in thatch roof.

Ubor Kambonja commended management of GCB bank limited for making banking simple for his subjects.
The outgoing District Chief Executive for Saboba, Adolph Ali John thanked residents of the area for their peaceful coexistence.

According to him, the Saboba branch was made possible because of the peaceful atmosphere.
Adolph Ali urged residents of the area to cooperate with the incoming government for meaningful development.

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By:Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GCB bank limited opens Saboba branch appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.