ARB Apex Bank recommends BoG not to close rural banks

Company News of Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-07-09

The CEO of ARB Apex Bank urges the Bank of Ghana not to close the country's rural and community banks as they play a major role in running the financial inclusion program.

According to Kojo Mattah, ARB Apex Bank is already working very hard to ensure that all the regulatory measures put in place by the central bank are respected by the rural banks.

ARB Apex Bank is the supervisory institution of rural and community banks spread throughout the country.

As part of the central bank's ongoing crusade to clean up the banking and specialized depository sector, rural and community banks have come under intense scrutiny.

Since 2017, the Bank of Ghana has been progressively evolving in the various sectors of the banking area.

The central bank started with the universal bank, where nine of them were closed.

Then he started in the microfinance and microcredit sector, closing some 386 institutions.

As the cleaning of the microfinance and microcredit sector is almost complete, rural and community banks are the next banks.

However, in an interview with Norvan Hayford-Acquah of Joy Business, Mattah said the rural and community banking sector is robust and any closure could isolate some citizens from the financial system.

"Rural banks serve a very, very important sector of the economy and the country," he said, adding that he was optimistic that the central bank would not abruptly decide to close 20 or 30 rural banks.

He said the few rural and community banks in trouble or "not very active" are being treated.

"We have invited their directors and we are still discussing with them what they should do to get the banks up," he said.

He added that in some cases, the central bank should help ARB Apex Bank revive the distressed rural and central bank.