It is emerging that Ghanaians are renewing their confidence in the banking sector following the clean up carried out by the Bank of Ghana over the past two years.
This is evident in the deposits recorded by commercial banks for the period ending October 2019.
According to the regulator, deposits, which is a major source of funding for banks grew by 17.1 percent for the period under review, albeit marginally lower than the 20.7 percent recorded in the preceding year.
Total deposits for that matter increased by 11.51 billion cedis; from 67.38 billion cedis to 78.9 billion cedis in October 2019.
Also, domestic deposits grew at the same pace as total deposits to 78.5 billion cedis in October 2019 from 67.04 billion cedis in October 2018.
On the other hand, deposits of non-residents, that is, those sections of the population other than persons residing in Ghana, remained small at 397.7 million cedis; though it increased from 342.1 million cedis in the year before.
The central bank believes its resolve to crack the whip and ensure that operators complied with regulatory requirements, led to the improvement recorded for the period.
The regulator’s action which spanned two years between August 2017 and August 2019, saw the revocation of licenses of nine indigenous banks.
There were some reforms to regulations guiding the operation of banks subsequently.
These included; Corporate Governance directives, Fit and Proper Guidelines in selecting members of Board of Directors as well as management or executives of commercial banks.
Citibusiness
