[ 2014-09-30 ]

SMEs accelerate economic development Deputy Minister
Accra, Sept. 29, GNA - Mr Cassiel Ato Forson,
Deputy Minister of Finance, said the role of small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) was very critical to
the accelerated economic development and growth
agenda of the country.

He said SMEs not only dominated the business
sector, but were also leading contributors to
employment, estimated at about 60 per cent of
total employment.

Mr Forson made the remarks at the weekend in a
speech read on his behalf by Mr Joseph Chognuru, a
Director at the Ministry, during the launch of
ABii National Savings and Loans Limited in Accra.
He said available data indicated that about 90 per
cent of companies registered were micro, small and
medium enterprises.

The Deputy Minister said this target group had
also been identified as the catalyst for economic
growth and, therefore, urged all non-banking
financial institutions, particularly ABii National
Savings and Loans, to assist those enterprises by
making credit more affordable and accessible.

He said the financial sector had become more and
more dynamic, with new trends coming up, which
provided new opportunities to create financial
products that best served the people.

He said Government was, therefore, committed to
working with all players to achieve the common
goal of ensuring sound, stable and robust
financial sector.

Mr Forson said the non-bank financial sector,
including savings and loans companies, played a
critical role in building a strong and viable
financial sector for the development of the
economy.

He said the financial services industry,
especially the non-bank sub-sector, remained a key
source for the mobilisation of the much needed
short and long term funds for national
development.

He noted that by financing different productive
activities in the economy, the non-bank financial
sub-sector contributed immensely to addressing the
unemployment problem and poverty reduction in
general.

Mr Forson said there was a high growth in the
number of universal banks, which currently stood
at 27, with over 750 branches in Ghana.

He said in addition, there were 197 rural and
community banks with about 711 branches and
outlets; 200 licensed microfinance businesses and
640 credit unions.

He said the World Bank 2012 Report on Financial
Inclusion in Africa, estimated that 2.5 billion
people were living without access to financial
services and three quarters of the world’s low
income earners were unbanked.

The Deputy Minister said this suggested that
traditional financial products and delivery
channels had achieved very little in addressing
the needs of this segment of people.

He said Government’s policy direction had been
to deepen and diversify the financial sector to
ensure the creation of a robust financial system
that could promote private sector growth.

Mr Forson said it was expected that Ghana’s
financial sector would continue to be the
preferred source of finance for domestic
companies.

He said a Finscope Ghana Survey had revealed that
about 40 per cent of Ghana’s population was
unbanked while 90 per cent were uninsured.

He said this section of the population was not in
a position to appreciate the inherent benefits of
the financial services industry.

Mr Forson said Government was promoting financial
inclusion by putting in place a stronger and more
facilitative legal and regulatory framework that
supported the protection of consumers of financial
services.

He said to manage the risks, government passed the
Credit Report Act, 2007 (Act 726) which
established the legal and regulatory mechanism for
the licensding and operations of credit bureaux
primarily to bridge information symmetry between
providers and consumers of financial services.

Dr Henry Kofi Wampah, Governor of Bank of Ghana
(BoG), in a speech read on his behalf by Mr
Stephen Amegashie, Assistant Director at the
Governor’s Department, said the Central Bank
would soon announce a new deadline for all savings
and loans companies to meet the new minimum
capital requirement of GH¢ 15.0 million.

Mr Godfried Osei-Boakye, Managing Director of ABii
National, said the company was established in
September 2011 with a provisional license to
operate.

He said after the official approval of a full
license in February 2013 by the BoG, the financial
institution launched into operations in September
2013 at its Avenor premises which housed both a
branch and the head office.

He said: "ABii National can now boast of six
running branches at Avenor, Abossey Okai,
Darkuman-Kokompe, Kasoa, Adum – Kumasi and
Mallam Atta, while the seventh branch in Takoradi
will be on board soon."

He said the vision of ABii National is “to be
the most desired indigenous bank, partnering with
our customers to unlock their financial potential
and be seen as the key to excellent
banking’’.

“ABii National aims to become a first class
universal bank of choice by deploying the best
personnel and technology to deliver excellent
banking services to all customers and increasing
shareholders value’’.

Mr Osei-Boakye said all the six branches were
fitted with state of the art Automated Teller
Machines (ATMs), with an offsite ATM at the
Korle-Bu ATM Farm.

“After two months of operation and with one
branch, ABii managed to close the year 2013 with a
deposit of GH¢ 3.9m and a loan portfolio of GH¢
308,000.

“Our current deposit position is GH¢ 17.8m
while loans and advances is GH¢ 10m, with
Non-Performing Loans ratio (NPL) of one per
cent,” he said.

Source - GNA

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