Mr. Prince Kofi Amoabeng, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder of the UT Group of companies last week officially announced his retirement.
According to reports, Mr. Amoabeng’s retirement takes effect at the end of December 31, and would be succeeded by Mr. Stephen Antwi-Asimeng, the current Chief Operating Officer of UT Bank, subject to the approval by the Bank of Ghana.
For the records, UT Bank started 18 years ago, with strong believe in systems, institutions and processes.
Together with his partner, Mr Joseph Nsonamoah, they started the bank as a non-bank financial institution in 1997 and have successfully transformed it into a universal bank focusing mainly on small and medium enterprises.
We believe that the 63 year old man has done a lot, not just for himself but for Ghana at large and it is now time for him to bow out when the company has been well positioned on the global market.
As he exits, we believe UT has a great team that can run the bank and deliver quality service to its cherished customers.
This single honor of Mr. Amaobeng demonstrates that we build companies for humanity and not for ourselves, so that when we are out, the good work and story still continues.
In fact, Mr. Amoabeng himself has noted that his retirement was not instigated by anybody or pressured from anyone but he willingly chose to retire to pave the way for others to also manage the bank after 18 years of heading it. He has however reiterated that he still remains the President of the UT Group of companies.
As he takes a back seat, Mr. Antwi-Asimeng, the new CEO, is expected to lead a new team of experienced industry professionals who have been recruited by the bank recently.
It is our prayer and hope that he will steer the affairs of the bank to greater heights.
Mr. Antwi-Asimeng himself is reported to have said that, the bank over the last couple of years experienced some challenges but a turnaround plan was instituted and has already shown some positive results.
We are glad to hear this since Mr Antwi-Asimeng brings on board solid professional experience in banking and finance, investment, management and leadership.
Mr. Amoabeng also has said the turnaround plan has several elements that include loan recovery, deposit mobilization, improved risk management, additional capital injection and aggressive cost reduction.
Mr. Amoabeng said “overall goal is to apply the vulnerable lessons we have learned as an SME-Focused bank to continue to serve our core market, the SME’s and the individual customer. The bank will continue to develop and introduce new products and services for SME’s and position itself as the go-to SME retail bank”.
Mr. Antwi-Asimeng and his team have a duty and they must endeavour to make it a success, to ensure that the bank continues to contribute to the economy of the country.
