{"id":245549,"date":"2016-09-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=245549"},"modified":"2016-09-04T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-04T06:00:00","slug":"we-are-cautious-of-growing-npls-first-atlantic-bank-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/09\/we-are-cautious-of-growing-npls-first-atlantic-bank-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are cautious of growing NPLs\u2019 \u2013 First Atlantic Bank CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"
At a time that the Non-Performing Loan [NPL] portfolio of commercial banks in the country is increasing, some banks have equally adjusted their strategies to reduce the impact this time round.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”grnPg16QpM5NhiBkKVVofA9KoPht0Mpz”]The Bank of Ghana\u2019s latest financial stability report indicated that interest income still dominated the income for banks, however, the high rates of the NPLs have forced the banks to cut credit to customers.<\/p>\n
A lot of factors including the country\u2019s economic challenges and the power crisis, have also been attributed to the increase in bad loans.<\/p>\n
According to the CEO of First Atlantic Bank, Odun Odunfa, the bank has been more cautious this year regarding a possible increase of the NPLs which will put the bank at a risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a cautious year for us in terms of loan growth; we\u2019ve granted loans but we have been very careful \u2026 the economy is what it is so we are trying to be careful so we do not grow loans at the risk of the business,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
Figures released by the Bank of Ghana show that the NPL portfolio of banks rose from GH\u00a2 3.1 billion in March 2015 to GH\u00a2 4.9 billion as at March this year.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile credit to the private sector contributed 94 percent of the total banking sector\u2019s non-performing loans as at March 2016, slightly down from 96.8 percent in March 2015.<\/p>\n
It is also worth noting that the over 4 billion cedis debt<\/a><\/strong><\/span> owed some 12 local banks by SOEs in the power sector, has also impacted on the balance books of banks in terms of NPLs.<\/p>\n Government, through the Ministry of Finance has since announced a road map to settle the outstanding debts.<\/p>\n