President Kufuor Inaugurates BSIC Bank
Inaugurating the bank, which has an initial investment portfolio of more than $10 million, President J.A. Kufuor said focusing on the micro, small and medium enterprises would enable the bank to capture a larger share of the market.
Micro, small and medium enterprises are said to constitute about 90 per cent of Ghana’s private sector.
The BSIC brings to eight the number of banks established in Ghana since the promulgation of the Banking Act in 2004. Already the BSIC has 11 branches in some West and North African countries and has particular interest in project financing, agro-processing, manufacturing and inter-regional trade.
BSIC Ghana Ltd is an offshoot of a memorandum of understanding signed between Ghana and Libya at the eighth Session of the Ghana-Libya Joint Commission held in Accra in October 2004 for the establishment of the bank in Ghana on behalf of the Community of Sahelo-Saharienne Countries (CEN-SAD).
To facilitate arrangements for the establishment of the bank, Ghana became a member of the Sahelo-Saharienne Community, an entity membership which is open to all African countries, including the Red Sea and Indian Ocean African states.
President Kufuor said the government appreciated why the micro, small and medium enterprises sector had been perceived as a high risk area by banks but was hopeful that the passage of the Credit Reporting Act would help to develop the appropriate credit infrastructure with the requisite security to enhance financing to that critical sector.
“Show leadership in this direction,” he told the BSIC officials, adding that the government was pleased with the decision of the bank to assist the country to develop major agro-processing companies through medium and long-term funding.
He was, however, not too pleased with the fact that despite the establishment of new banks, the degree of competition in the banking sector did not reflect in the pricing of their products.
“Lending rates are still high,” he said, and expressed the hope that “the presence of BSIC Ghana will generate such competition as will lead to lower rates”.
President Kufuor said it was his expectation that the new bank would promote regional trade between Ghana and the rest of Africa.
The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Professor George Gyan Baffour, said at the function that the establishment of yet another bank in Ghana, was an indication of the growing confidence in the economy and expressed the hope that the bank would contribute its quota to national development.
Mr Akwasi Osei Adjei, Minister of Foreign Affairs, NEPAD and Regional Integration, promised that the government would provide the enabling environment for banks to operate and asked them to comply strictly with regulations.
The Chairman and General Manager of BSIC Group, Mr Al-Hadji Alwafali, said the bank was committed to providing excellent banking services and would contribute to economic development, community support, investment and trade.
The General Secretary of CEN-SAD, Dr El-Medrani El-Azhari, was confident that CEN-SAD and the BSIC would serve as a development tool in Ghana and CEN-SAD member countries. source: Daily Graphic
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