The Boards of Sahel Sahara and Omni Bank are said to be engaging each other to cement their plans for merger, as the December 2018 deadline for the attainment of the GH¢400 million minimum capital requirement of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) draws nearer.
This follows the Central Bank’s endorsement of the proposal by the aforementioned banks to merge their operations.
The approval, made known to them on Tuesday, gives them the green light to make public their consolidation probably later this month.
Preceding this agreement, there were reports that GN Bank, Premium Bank and Sahel Sahara were in talks to come together as one entity but somehow that could not materialise owing to a slight misunderstanding.
Discussions on the merger between Sahel Sahara and Omni Bank, which began in July this year firmed up at the close of last month.
Omni Bank is owned by Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong while Sahel Bank, which has been operational since March 2009, is owned by 13 Sahelian countries.
Sources indicate that the deal is being facilitated by Bora Advisory Services, an indigenous financial service advisory firm.
The Central Bank, in recent times, has indicated it has embarked on a clean-up of the country’s banking sector to create a healthy sector that could undertake big-ticket transactions.
Some staff of the two institutions are privy to the plans courtesy a presentation made to them by the Banking Supervision Department of the Central Bank in the second week of this month.
BoG’s approval is expected to be communicated to the management of both banks in writing this week to begin the integration process after it gave the nod to the ‘marriage’ proposal.
Their merger will bring to 30 the number of banks licensed by the Central Bank to operate in Ghana, 13 of whom are local.
 By Samuel Boadi