CBG receives GH¢2.5bn fresh capital
Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) has received a GH¢2.5 billion capital injection from its sole shareholder, the government, as part of measures to position it for growth and restore balance sheet resilience.
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The bank secured the fresh capital in December last year through funds from the Ghana Financial Sector Fund (GFSF) bond.
By this, the bank — formed some five years ago through the amalgamation of seven defunct banks during the country’s financial sector crisis — becomes one of the first among the commercial banks in the country to access funds from the Ghana Financial Sector Fund (GFSF) created to support banks whose balance sheets were impaired as a result of the implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
The support makes CBG more solvent and liquid to discharge its core mandate of financial intermediation.
The Managing Director of the bank, Daniel Wilson Addo, told the Daily Graphic after a press interaction in Accra last Tuesday that “the bank is, therefore, ideally positioned to continue its growth trajectory and, most importantly, to continue to make a positive impact on the economy”.
Areas of focus
Through the funding, he said, the bank would deepen support for small and medium enterprises (SME) and also provide funding for the agricultural sector, with a big ticket transaction already in the offing.
Mr Addo said the bank had already been supporting SMEs, but would ramp up support for them from this year.
Meant to unlock the potential of two of the most important sectors of the economy in line with government’s overall ambitions for the year, the move by CBG, Mr Addo said, was also expected to boost food production to contain inflation, ensure food security and expand exports, as well as create jobs for the mass of the people while providing a source of financial livelihood for small businesses which were in dire need of capital.
Big on SMEs
Throwing more light on the SME sector, Mr Addo said CBG had played a pivotal role in providing as much as GH¢1.6 billion in loans to over 5,600 businesses; introduced innovative programmes such as the ‘CBG SME Loan Adesua series and optimised loan processing for swift access.
“The initiatives in the SME sector have earned the bank various awards, including the Euromoney Award for SME Market leadership in 2022 and 2023.”
He said in the corporate and institutional banking segment, CBG had participated in syndicated loans totalling GH¢2.35 billion, either as a lead arranger or transaction advisor, benefiting crucial sectors such as energy, tourism and education.
Mr Addo said: “In the immediate future, CBG would deepen investment in digitisation, upscale support to SMEs, further prioritise customer service and ensure greater operational efficiency.
“The overriding ambition is to build market leadership in SME financing while building a resilient institution.
Mr Addo said the focus of the bank was intact and noted that management and staff would do all it took to ensure that its customers were well catered for.
“We see the bank becoming a tier-one bank by next year because we are doing everything right and with the additional capital injection, we hope to turn things around more swiftly to achieve that ambition,” he told the Daily Graphic.