One of Ghana’s prominent indigenous banks, uniBank has been declared by the country’s central bank to be bankrupt exposing savings of customers to major risk.
The Bank of Ghana on Tuesday announced that it has appointed accountancy firm KPMG to take over the management of the bank for the next six months.
The takeover of management according to the central bank is to help prevent the bank from total collapse.
The central bank which is the financial regulator in a statement said that uniBank’s “capital adequacy ratio (CAR) has fallen below 50% of the required minimum of 10% (i.e. below 5%).”
The central bank also said that “The appointment of the official administrator is aimed at saving UniBank from imminent collapse. It will prevent potential losses to depositors and other creditors, and ensure that the financial condition of the bank does not create further risks for the entire financial system”.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, told reporters in Accra that “nobody will lose money,” referring to customers.
“The bank will continue to run as usual, all depositors’ funds are safe. Nobody will lose money. We are trying to save the bank from imminent collapse. We are saving an indigenous Ghanaian-owned bank,” Dr. Addison added.
Last year two local banks in Ghana, Capital Bank and UT Bank had their licenses revoked by the country’s central bank over lack of funds.
The banking industry in Ghana has been struggling for some time now with some banks facing challenges to raise adequate capital for their operations.
Source: Africafeeds.com
