As the December 31, 2018 deadline fast approaches for Commercial banks to meet the GH¢400 million capital requirement, the fate of six (names withheld) out of 28 is still in limbo.
Currently, there are no real indixation that the six banks are succeeding in their desperate attempts to beat the deadline to raise their stated capital to GH¢400 million.
This means that should the deadline expire, the central bank will either be forced to downgrade them to savings and loans companies or will have their licenses totally revoked.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, said at the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) news conference for the year in Accra on Monday, that the deadline for the bank recapitalisation would be stayed at December 31.
“Deadline for the bank recapitalisation is unchanged at end-year 2018,” he said.
This was despite concerns by some experts in the banking sector that should the deadline remain unchanged, many banks would be unable to recapitalise.
The BoG earlier indicated that 22 out of the existing 28 universal banks in the country had met the new capital requirement as of the end of September this year.
Dr Addison said the BoG was closely monitoring and working with the banks towards their recapitalisation efforts to ensure a formidable banking sector next year.
He said many banks were close to meeting the new minimum capital while a few more remained in merger talks. The governor, however, failed to disclose the exact number of banks which had met the requirement as of this month.
A MUST READ: More banks will collapse – Financial analyst
“We are happy to note that many banks are close to meeting the new minimum capital requirement and a few are concluding discussions on mergers.
“We expect 2019 to commence with a well-capitalised and robust banking system with no weak institution,” he said.
