President John Evans Atta Mills has encouraged banks operating in the country to strictly adhere to legal regulations governing the financial and banking sectors, noting that some of the financial institutions are not fully complying with the laws of Ghana.
He said it was important that Financial Institutions worked within the legal framework of Ghana to ensure sanity in the sector and harmony between the government and financial institutions towards economic development.
President Mills said this yesterday when the executives of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the leading Pan-African bank, called on him at the Castle, Osu in Accra.
He praised Ecobank for being one of the most progressive banks in Ghana and Africa in general, saying that it was one of the banks that had over the year’s strictly adhered to the country’s regulations.
He told the executives led by ETI’s new chairman, Kolapo Lawson, who were at the Castle to brief the President on the bank’s operations that the government was proud to have a financial institution in Ecobank that was performing creditably.
“I am not speaking like this because I am a customer or shareholder, but that is the truth,” he said. The President lamented that some financial institutions have had little or no regard for the country’s regulations coupled with poor customer services, but the Ecobank was an exception.
President Mills asked emerging banks to emulate Ecobank’s good customer service and leadership credentials, saying government was committed to supporting organisations that were doing well.
“The people of Ghana want nothing but the best,” he said, stressing that Ghanaians were discerning enough to know where to go for the best. He assured the bank, which was recently engaged as the transaction advisor for the Tema Oil Refinery, of government’s continuous collaboration since its progress which would lead to creation of jobs, would inure to the benefit of Ghanaians.
“You can always count on the support of the government,” he told the Ecobank executives.
Mr Lawson, who was accompanied by ETI and Ecobank Ghana Executives, said ETI’s 21 years of existence had made it a leading bank in Africa, and the only bank that it pursuing the regional integration agenda.
Ghana, he said, had a significant stake in ETI, which currently had 118,000 shareholders across Africa; explain that the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) was one of the largest and influential shareholders of the ETI.
That aside he said Ecobank Ghana, the 14th country branch to be established, had grown to become one of the leading banks in the Ecobank Group, thereby making ETI’s relations with Ghana very critical in the progress of the bank.
Source: Ghanaian Times/Ghana
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