Dr Ernest Addison, Bank of Ghana Governor This follows a confirmation from the Bank of Ghana that twenty-three banks have so far been left to operate following the $81 million minimum capital requirement for universal banks.
Prior to the exercise, thirty- six banks were operating the country.
The Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison who was speaking at a press conference in Accra, the capital of Ghana disclosed that currently, twenty-three universal banks are operating in the country.
“These banks have all met the minimum paid-up capital of $81 million,” he said.
He added that sixteen banks have met the new paid-up capital requirement of $81 million mainly through capitalization of income surplus and a fresh capital injection.
Some other banks among the twenty-three have gone through a process of merging and the BoG has approved the application.
These merged banks include First Atlantic Merchant Bank Limited and Energy Commercial Bank, Omni Bank and Bank Sahel Sahara and First National Bank and GHL Bank.
The three resulting banks out of these mergers have all met the new minimum capital requirement.
Meanwhile, the state-owned banks (Agricultural Development Bank, National Investment Bank) have benefited from a support scheme from the government which is christened the Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT).
Some other private banks (the merged Omni/Bank Sahel Sahara, Universal Merchant Bank and Prudential Bank) were also supported by GAT on the basis of their solvent status and good corporate governance.
