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GAPNEWS BOG denies imminent mass liquidations of RCBs Business News of Wednesday, 19 June 2019 Source: goldstreetbusiness.com 2019-06-19 Dr. Maxwel Opoku-Afari, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has assured of no impending plans of cleaning up of the Rural and Community Banks sector (RCB) through mass liquidations, as alleged by the malicious messages that had recently been reported on social media. First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Maxwel Opoku-Afari, in an interview with Goldstreet Business, assured that the overwhelming majority of RCB’s are solvent, liquid and strong, in contrast to malicious reports of an intended clean-up by the central bank similar to the one recently announced in the micro-finance industry where nearly two thirds of the licensed institutions have been compulsorily liquidated. Dr. Opoku-Afari said the regulator continuously monitors and supervises that segment of the financial intermediation sector

Rural banks lose millions of cedis to social media rumours : Some rural and community banks (RCBs) lost as much as GH¢1 million per bank within a week to panic withdrawals that were inspired by social media rumours concerning the viability of the community-based lenders, the Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank, Mr Kojo Matta, has revealed. GAPNEWS

Don't invest in Loom, it is a scam - EOCO : The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has cautioned the public to desist from investing and patronizing the unlicensed investment scheme known as Loom. GAPNEWS

GAPNEWS Inflation rate for May drops to 9.4% Inflation rate for May 2019 recorded a marginal reduction to 9.4 per cent down by 0.1 percentage point from the 9.5 per cent recorded in April 2019. Deputy Government Statistician, David Kombat has been explaining to the media in Accra that the rate recorded was highly influenced by the declining rate of food inflation in the measuring basket. "We have seen a slight decline in food prices especially vegetables as a result of the weather patterns. This usually happens when we're entering into the raining season and commodity prices begin to experience some dips but this is also accompanied by some reductions in certain components of the non-food items" he said. Upper West recorded the highest general inflation of 11.1 per cent whiles Ashanti the highest rate in food inflation. "The food and non-alcoholic beverage group recorded 7.3 per cent, a reduction of 1.1 per cent point lower than the rate recorded in April

GAPNEWS No Clean-up At Rural, Community Banks — BoG MALICIOUS MESSAGES CIRCULATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ABOUT RURAL AND COMMUNITY BANKS The attention of the Bank of Ghana has been drawn to malicious messages circulating on social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook that an intended “clean up" of Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) sub-sector by the Bank of Ghana would negatively affect depositors fund with RCBs, urging them to move their funds to other institutions. For the avoidance of doubt, the clean-up exercise is only directed at insolvent and illiquid financial institutions which are not able to meet depositor withdrawals. The exercise is to enable depositors have access to their funds. The Bank of Ghana would want to encourage the general public and customers to continue to do business with RCBs that are solvent, liquid and strong. For further details you may contact the Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department of Bank of Gha

Ghana Business News, Financial & Economic news : Current Ghana Business News, Facts and more about the Ghanaian economy, oil & gas, Telecoms and other business activities by the Graphic Business GAPNEWS

GAPNEWS We’re developing plan to clean up Savings and Loans sector The Bank of Ghana will soon descend on the savings and loans sector as part of measures to clean up Ghana’s banking space. The central bank is currently going through processes to come up with a plan to clean up the savings and loans sector just like it has done in other categories within the banking sector. Speaking on Point on View on Citi TV on Monday, the Head of Other Financial Institutions Supervision, Mr. Joseph Amoah-Awuah said over GH¢ 6 million of depositors’ monies are at risk in the savings and loans and financial houses. He said the Bank of Ghana does not have the required resources yet to clean up those spaces but will act in due course. The Central Bank’s recent financial sector clean-up saw it revoking the licenses of 347 microfinance institutions and 39 microcredit institutions. Of the 347 microfinance institutions whose licenses were revoked , 192 of them were insolvent while the remainin

GAPNEWS NOTICE OF THE FINING OF BARCLAYS BANK GHANA LIMITED FOR MAKING FRIVOLOUS QUOTES ON THE GHANA INTERBANK FOREIGN EXCHANGE (FX) MARKET The Bank of Ghana has fined the Barclays Bank of Ghana an amount of GH¢4,579,256.36 for making frivolous quotes on Ghana’s Interbank Foreign Exchange Market.  This action is in breach of the Ghana Interbank Forex Market Conduct Rules. The Bank of Ghana is committed to ensuring sanity, transparency and promoting best practices that serve to develop and deepen the FX market in Ghana. In pursuit of the above goals, the Bank of Ghana will not hesitate to sanction any market participant whose actions contravene Ghana’s Interbank FX Market Conduct Rules. ISSUED BY BANK OF GHANA

ARB Apex Bank Limited GAPNEWS

GAPNEWS Majority of Rural Banks in stable conditions, only a few in distress - ARB Apex Bank The parent company of rural banks, ARB Apex Bank has told Citi Business News even though a few of its members are under financial distress majority are solvent hence are able to meet liquidity supply. But speaking to Citi Business News, the Deputy Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank, Alex Awuah explained that about 26 banks are in distress while the majority are in good positions. “We know that apart from the 26 banks that face some challenges, all the banks are in good business. The banks are serving the liquidity needs of their customers. We don’t have any challenges with them,” Mr. Awuah said stressing that most Rural and Community Banks are financially stable. He explained that the Bank of Ghana has already undertaken an assessment of the health of Rural and Community Banks and will soon come out with plans to rescue the few that are in financial distress from collapse. “For the

GAPNEWS MICROFINANCE COMPANIES TO REMAIN OPERATIONAL 1 3AS MICROFINANCE LIMITED 2 ADIPA MICROFINANCE LIMITED 3 ADOM BOAFO MICROFINANCE LIMITED 4 AFRO - ARAB MICROFINANCE LIMITED 5 ALBRIM MICROFINANCE LIMITED 6 ALPHAMAGA MICROFINANCE LIMITED 7 APA MICROFINANCE LIMITED 8 ASANKRAMAN MICROFINANCE LIMITED 9 BAF MICROFINANCE LIMITED 10 BAOBAB MICROFINANCE COMPANY LIMITED 11 BENEFICIAL MICROFINANCE COMPANY LIMITED 12 BESWORTH MICROFINANCE LIMITED 13 BI MICROFINANCE LIMITED 14 BIDVEST MICROFINANCE LIMITED 15 BJ CAPITAL MICROFINANCE LIMITED 16 BOSTON PREMIER MICROFINANCE LIMITED 17 CAGL MICROFINANCE SERVICES LIMITED 18 CAPITALNET MICROFINANCE LIMITED 19 CASHBACK CAPITAL MICROFINANCE LIMITED 20 CASHPOINT MICROFINANCE LIMITED 21 CEDI CAPITAL MICROFINANCE LIMITED 22 CENTRAL MICROFINANCE LIMITED 23 CIDAN CAPITAL MICROFINANCE LIMITED 24 CLASSIC MICROFINANCE LIMITED MICROFINANCE COMPANIES TO REMAIN OPERATIONAL 25 COASTAL COMMERCE MICROFINANCE LIMITED 26 CRAN MICROF