Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom
Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, Chairman of Groupe Nduom, has advised small banks to accept assistance and take criticisms from regulators, directors, shareholders and customers, among others.
Dr Nduom, who was speaking at the 5th Today Annual Lecture in Accra, said such assistance and criticisms were essential for banks, especially the local ones, in the development of the country.
“As for problems, they will come, it’s how we solve them; that’s what is important,” he stated.
Dr Nduom also called for more Ghanaian participation in the financial sector, particularly in the emerging Fintech industry, saying that would thrive on the growth of Mobile Money transactions.
He said the banking and mobile money sector in general and the telecommunications industry had been dominated by non-Ghanaians, and therefore the growth of the electronic money should see more Ghanaian participation.
Dr Nduom further called for the provision of the requisite resources to the Central Bank to support small local banks.
According to him, regulation in the USA, where he has acquired a small bank country, is regular with reviews and prompt feedback that are geared towards identifying what the bank lacked with accompanying corrective prescriptions.
“When they look at small banks like ours, the GN Bank in the US, they link us to the bigger banks. A month and half ago, I was in Dallas and was invited to sit at the same roundtable table with bigger banks like Citi Bank, where we shared ideas, and in this case for example, Citi Bank is now able to offer to our small bank the use of all its ATMs across the US at no cost to our customers to help our bank to grow,” he stated.
“Regular visits, regular communication, regular interaction and offering of technical assistance on governance, new technology and things that will help a bank to be more safe and sound; that’s all that we need.”