Energy Bank and First Atlantic Bank have begun merger talks in order to raise GH¢400 million to meet the minimum capital requirement of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed awaiting further action from the two sides.
Per the MoU, Energy Commercial Bank and First Atlantic Bank will join forces and look for an additional partner in order to meet the new capital levels.
This is because checks on their financial statements show that a merger of the two will still fall short of GH¢400 million.
For instance, the financial statement  of Energy Bank showed that as at September this year [2018], its stated capital stood at GH¢60 million, while that of First Atlantic Bank stood at GH¢168,678,000 for the same period.
If the Central Bank grants them the permission to merge, the stated capital level will reach GH¢228,678,000.
This will be GH¢171,322,000 shy of the GH¢400 million.
Energy Commercial Bank’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) to help it meet the minimum capital requirement was unsuccessful, as it could not meet the minimum amount of GH¢68 million.
Commercial banks have about 13 working days to meet the minimum capital requirement.
But considering the process of merger, which should have the Bank of Ghana’s approval, it is unclear whether the banks will still be able to meet the mark.
Already, the Central Bank has insisted it will not extend the deadline despite earlier appeals to do so.
For now, 22 banks have met the minimum capital requirement of which two are mergers.
 -Citifmonline