By Yinka Kolawole

Ghanaian President, Prof,. John Atta Mills, Tuesday, in Accra commissioned Energy Bank Ghana limited, the latest subsidiary of Global Fleet group, owned by Nigeria businessman, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim.

The bank was granted a Class  ‘A’  banking license after meeting the 60 million cedis minimum requirement of the Bank of Ghana, which entitles to operate universal banking in the country.

Speaking at the occasion, President Atta Mills said that  the commissioning was a demonstration of the confidence of the international business community in the economy of Ghana and appealed to financial institutions  in Ghana to reduce the cost of credit in order to create jobs and invest in human resources.

“We welcome wholeheartedly, the Energy Bank into the business community of our dear nation. We know that with their antecedents and with the kind of support that they have, they should not find it difficult to operate in the Ghanaian business community,” he said.

Chairman of Energy Bank, Barrister Ibrahim said Ghana’s banking sector was one key institution in that country’s success story.  “It is amazing to see 28 Ghanaian banks having over $1billion shareholders fund spreading across all aspects of banking in a 25million population of Ghana; compared with 23 Nigerian banks with shareholders fund of about $1.9billion for 150 million population.

There is no doubt that Ghana presents a future economic stability guarded with robust human resources of the Bank of Ghana,” he said.

“Mr. President, I am encouraged by the development in Ghana and as someone, who prize intellectual capacity in high esteem over moral intelligence, I cannot but appreciate a growth that is propelled or instigated by brainstorming exercise rather than any other incapable one that is influenced by local circumstances and ethnic zeal or overzealous retaliatory attack that have no fundamental bearing on your sustained economic growth,” he added.

He pledged that he was ready to build a $50 million hospital in the country provided the government is willing to provide the required land.

“As a mark of our love for the government and the people of Ghana, our Group will further invest $50million, in the first instance, towards building a first-class hospital, provided the government will provide land where such hospital will be built,” he said. President Atta Mills, who unveiled the bank, urged bank operators to slash cost of lending to enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the agric sector to have access to cheap funds to stimulate economic growth.

He said this is necessary as inflation rate is going downward and government continues to provide the needed infrastructure to support businesses. With a capital base of GHc 60 million, Ibrahim said Energy Bank would assist government in funding projects in real estate, service industries, oil and gas and infrastructure.
“Our concern will be to develop indigenous entrepreneurs that will help assist the government in sustaining those laudable projects,” Ibrahim promised.

He said Energy Bank Limited will be a diversified entity, but will lead the way by displaying unparalleled competence and skills that will make it the bank of first choice in the merging oil and gas business in Ghana.

He noted that the Ghanaian economy is projected to grow at 23.7 per cent in 2013 , making it the fastest growing in the world, urging that government should focus more on foreign direct investment in the country because of the notable benefits.

Governor, Bank of Ghana, Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, said Energy Bank was given Class One Banking Licence which empowers it to operate as a universal bank in the country. He said the bank will add to the infrastructure of the Ghanaian banking industry, even as its coming demonstrates growing trusts in the economy. He said with the discovery of oil makes it imperative for the bank to explore opportunities in the energy and petroleum sectors of the economy.

Amissah-Arthur advised Energy Bank management to employ good risk management processes to ensure that its loans do not go bad because “capital provided can easily fizzle out if not properly managed”.

He said Information Technology is key in meeting customers’ needs in today’s banking environment and, therefore, advised the bank to equip its IT adequately for it to compete effectively. “IT is needed to keep customers happy, manage pricing and risks. Energy Bank must modernise its IT if it must compete in the Ghanaian market,” he said.