Alhassan Andani
The Ghana Bankers Association has called on the Judicial Service to expedite the adjudication of financial cases.
According to the association, slow judicial processes have partly contributed to the High Non-Performing Loans (NPL) in the country.
The Ghana Bankers Association said that one of the major factors that led to the challenges in the banking sector, which eventually led to the collapse of some nine banks in the country is the exposure of the banks to clients with high credit risk profile.
It argued that some people who went for loans from banks defaulted in paying even though most of such cases were at the court.
The Non-Performing Loans, as at December 2018, stood at 18 percent, which is above the international rate of 5 percent.
President of the Ghana Bankers Association, Alhassan Andani said the judicial service has a huge role to play in quickly resolving financial disputes in court.
“We want the court to help us. I think most of it is stuck at the court and the judicial process is slow.”
Mr. Andani observed that the court do not appreciate the fact that the monies under dispute affect the operations of companies, hence the need to give them special attention to resolve them quickly.
He stated that the association has begun processes to form clubs among the banks to monitor the activities of creditors at the same time.
“So when more than two banks are lending to a particular customer the banks come together to support this client. That way you are able to standardize supervision of the client,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) says it would enforce the Credit Reporting provision in order to control the situation.
–Citibusiness