Friday, 04 July

Banking sector clean-up: Ex-NPP Youth Organiser refutes Frank Adu's claims, says sector stronger than ever

Business
Frank Adu

A former Suame Youth Organiser for the New Patriotic Party in the Ashanti Region, Richard Agyemang, has publicly refuted assertions made by ex-Cal Bank MD Frank Adu, accusing him of “whitewashing” failures by focusing criticism solely on President Akufo‑Addo and Finance Minister Ken Ofori‑Atta. 

He accused Mr Adu of deliberately ignoring evidence that justified the sector’s overhaul.

According to the former organiser, the Bank of Ghana and IMF’s Asset Quality Reviews identified multiple undercapitalised banks in 2014/15, prompting the establishment of statutory reforms through Act 930. 

“These institutions… had lost their franchise value,” he maintained and needed resolution before causing wider systemic collapse.

He praised the NPP’s 2017 clean‑up for preventing a full-blown banking crisis and safeguarding investment, including in CAL Bank—a move he said also benefitted Mr Adu. 

“No one was ready to invest in an entity that had lost its franchise value… The exercise of consolidation was to save deposits and as many jobs as possible,” he said and noted that Mr Adu’s own investment was protected by government intervention.

He concluded by pointing to the sector’s impressive post-clean‑up performance—the financial industry's total asset base grew 33.8%, deposits rose by 28.8%, and liquidity ratios improved. 

“All the performance indicators show that the sector... returned to profitability at the end of 2024,” he concluded, challenging Mr Adu to revisit the factual record before making further claims

Source: Classfmonline.com/Cecil Mensah