�New Banks Must Have GH�100m Capital�

Existing banks operating in Ghana have been excused from the Bank of Ghana�s new minimum capital requirement. Henceforth, any bank seeking to enter Ghana�s market would be required to have a minimum capital requirement of at least GHC100, 000 million Cedis. This is contrary to earlier reports that existing banks will also have to cough up an extra GHC40 million cedis after meeting the December deadline date of GHC60 million earlier directed by the central bank. Acting Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Henry Kofi Wampah said �in the media some people have said that it is going to be for all banks; that is not what I said, I said for new banks and at least it will be GHC 100 million.�� �We haven�t decided finally on how much it will be but we have decided that we will increase it to at least GHC 100 million and it is for new banks,� he reiterated. However, �we encourage the old banks in the system to increase their reserves because the cost of the level of lending or activity they can engage in is determined by the capital or the network of the bank. If they [banks] don�t do that they will not be able to do the big facilities and so on, that were the profit really is and if we don�t do that we will leave the business to the foreign banks that are adequately capitalized.�� Meanwhile, the Central Bank said four more banks are yet to meet the GHC60 million Cedis recapitalization requirement with some few weeks shy of the December deadline date.