LeapFrog To Invest GH�375 Million In Ghana�s Financial Sector

Leapfrog Investments is investing a total of GH�375 million (US $100m) in Ghana�s growing financial services sector. LeapFrog will invest a total of GH�1.5 billion (US $400m) from a new fund it has raised to help boost trade in high growth businesses in Asia and Africa, with Ghana as a priority country. The firm will make equity investments of up to GH�180m in any one company, said the statement, adding that these must be established businesses that deliver insurance, savings, pensions, investments, credit, remittances or payments. LeapFrog is the world�s largest dedicated equity investor in emerging markets financial services with partner companies serving 22.7 million people across 16 countries. �With its liberal, stable market and forward-looking investment climate, Ghana is a regional leader,� said Doug Lacey, LeapFrog partner, in a statement issued to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday. �Given the vast number of consumers demanding financial tools for the first time, the Ghanaian financial services sector is an exceptional investment opportunity,� the statement noted. While Ghana�s economy is growing fast, less than 16 per cent of her 20 million consumers save at a financial institution and only five per cent have insurance. The statement said recent regulatory reforms had helped to make those products available to the majority of the population for the first time, and as a result, there was rapid increasing demand for financial services, �The pensions market, for example, is expected to expand by 400 per cent in the next four years�, the statement added. LeapFrog has a strong track record in Ghana. The Managing Director of Petra Trust, Mr Kofi Fynn, said, "We decided to partner with LeapFrog because we found them to be unique for the specialist, hands-on operational support they offer to company leaders�.