ARB Apex Bank has asked the general public to disregard social media messages circulating that the Bank of Ghana, BoG will soon revoke the licences of some rural banks in the country.
A statement from ARB Apex Bank has said the BoG has completed the clean-up exercise and will not “descend†on Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) as is being maliciously circulated.
The statement signed by the Managing Director of Apex Bank, Kojo Mattah said, “A malicious audio message circulating on social media platforms including WhatsApp purporting that Bank of Ghana has plans to withdraw the licences of some operating Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) has no basis.â€
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ARB Apex Bank is the supervisory institution for rural and community banks spread across the country.
Rural banks, MFIs directed to recapitalise by Feb. 2020
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has directed rural and community banks (RCBs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to recapitalise to GHc1 million and Ghc2 million respectively by February 2020.
The directive was contained in a notice issued Monday, August 19, 2019.
The February 2020 deadline for recapitalisation now replaces the earlier deadline of December 31, 2017, which elapsed with most of the institutions being unable to comply.
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The earlier directive issued in 2015 had asked the institutions to stagger their capital raising.
Monday's notice, which was signed by BoG's Secretary, Mrs Frances Van-Hein Sackey, warned that RCBs and MFIs that fail to comply with the new deadline would be sanctioned in accordance with the Banks and Specialised Deposits-Taking Institutions Act (BSDI), 2016 (Act 930).
Consequently, it asked shareholders, directors and operators of RCBs and MFIs to take note and be guided.
PRESS RELEASE
A malicious audio message circulating on social media platforms including WhatsApp purporting that Bank of Ghana has plans to withdraw the licences of some operating Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) has no basis.
Rather, the Bank of Ghana in a Notice dated 16 August 2019 made it clear that RCBs are key in its financial inclusion agenda and therefore will work with the ARB Apex Bank to reposition the rural and community banking sector to enable them to better support rural economic development.
The general public and the teaming customers of RCBs are advised to ignore the malicious message and do business with the RCBs. The Bank of Ghana has completed the clean-up exercise and will
NOT “descend†on RCBs as is being maliciously circulated.
SIGNED
KOJO MATTAH MANAGING DIRECTOR
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