Management of the Energy Commercial Bank has pledged to continue to exhibit prudent operational, audit and risk management practices in order to serve as a crucial element to sustain the bank’s business in the country.
The move, according to the bank, is to complement the Bank of Ghana’s regulatory actions to promote safety, soundness and stability of the financial system, and also protect the interests of depositors.
The Managing Director of the bank, Mrs Christiana Olaoye, in an interview with the media in Accra, observed that shareholders and directors of the bank had hailed the regulatory actions by the central bank to promote sound banking environment.
“The reform to help strengthen the banking sector is a step in the right direction which will boost confidence in the banking industry and the Ghanaian economy.”
She said the new corporate governance directives by the central bank would minimise the possibility of regulated financial institution failures.
Since its establishment in February 2011, she indicated that the bank had complied with all regulatory measures such as capital adequacy ratio and cash reserve ratio, far exceeding the minimum threshold.
She maintained that the bank had prudent practices permeate into the choice of its board appointees and management staff.
Way forward
After almost seven years in operation, she said the bank had repositioned its banking business through implementation of various strategic initiatives aimed at making its brand a preferred bank of choice in the Ghanaian banking industry.
She said the bank was confident of recapitalising on time to meet the Bank of Ghana’s minimum capital requirement (MCR) of GH¢400 million by December 31, 2018.
It had submitted its documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), awaiting approval in order to commence its Initial Public Offer (IPO) and subsequently list on the Ghana Stock Exchange (BoG).
“We will continue to be a part of the development process. We are expanding our frontiers and, therefore, inviting many Ghanaian investors to become part of the bank brand,” she added.