The Agricultural Development Bank (adb) has announced its readiness to meet the central bank’s minimum capital requirements of GH400million as the December 31 deadline fast approaches.
This follows an approval by shareholders of the bank to source for additional funds of about GH¢310million to meet Bank of Ghana’s minimum capital requirement.
The announcement was made by the bank’s Managing Director, Dr. John Kofi Mensah, at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) with shareholders in Accra.
Dr. John Kofi Mensah expressed gratitude to all shareholders for helping the bank comply with the BoG’s capital requirement, and assured of an improvement in the bank’s activities come 2019.
“ADB by the year 2019 will be a bank to talk about. The signs are already there and the branding is improving. If the market is to be good, the early hours of it is important,” he said
At the meeting, it was revealed that global leader in assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services Ernst and Young has been appointed as the bank’s new external auditor.
Speaking of the bank’s performance on the stock exchange, he said: “The issues about shareholding in the past led to the stock exchange being a little bit cautious in terms of trading the stock. So, when everything is done now, there will be movements to show if the bank is still on the exchange.”
Touching on projections for 2019, Dr. Mensah said ADB’s focus will be heightened in 2019 in the area of agriculture: “Because if government policy is in the direction of your transactions, then you are about 80% through, because resources are coming into agriculture,” he stated.
Addressing the bank’s high interest rates, as opined by some farmers, the Managing Director revealed that interest rates are going to be reduced: “We are pursuing this, and we want the public to know that.”
Source: BestNewsGH.com/Patrick Paintsil