Mr Daniel Wilson Addo, the Managing Director of Consolidated Bank Limited (CBG), Thursday assured the banking population that the Bank is now stronger and well positioned to play its role in the economic development of the country.
“CBG has shrugged off the initial ashes and challenges around its formation,” he said, adding that the Bank was ready to serve its core customers, being Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as all Ghanaians.
Mr Addo was speaking at a media engagement, hosted by the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), under its “pitching the successes of specified entities,” in Accra.
SIGA hosted the CBG and Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), who are part of state enterprises, to share their operational successes.
Mr Addo said the Bank, formed out of seven defunct banks around 2018 by the State, with 190 branches countrywide, which had different cultures and technology “nightmares” alongside its liabilities, had now been turned around into a better financial institution.
It had also worked to establish a strong governance framework, gained financial control, saved 2,300 jobs and even financed some state projects including the Sea Defence walls and other corporate social responsibilities, as well as supported COVID-19 related initiatives.
Mr Addo said on the way forward, the Bank was determined to continue to serve SMEs better by asserting itself as the preferred SME Bank and proffer solutions to those it served, and offering digital financial solutions.
Professor Amin Alhassan, the Director General of GBC, said the 86-year-old Corporation was determined to overcome its challenges to maintain its current status as a critical institution of democracy for national development.
He said the GBC, as the biggest media empire in the country, had worked hard to survive and now operated widely on its internally generated funds, which was also used to broadcast most national programmes including the 2020 Presidential Petition, which costed three dollars per a minute.
He said all the public service functions the Corporation performed could serve as dividends to the state.
Prof Alhassan, however, said GBC must be supported to play its role as a state broadcaster adding that it owed lot of electricity bills, especially for its outlets in the hinterlands, some of which had been disconnected by the ECG due to inadequate funding.
“The demands of a Public Service Broadcasting without a commensurate resourcing has deepened the debt situation of GBC,” Prof Alhassan said.
Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, the Chief Executive Officer of SIGA, commended the two entities for achieving so much with the minimal state resources at their disposal.
He said SIGA was appreciative of the GBC and so impressed with the performance of CBG as state enterprises, working to fulfil their mandates and becoming profitable to the nation.
“It is good CBG is focusing on SMEs because they are the thrust of the economy”, he said.
He said SIGA’s role was to facilitate the monitoring of state enterprises and to ensure that the business of the state was run properly and yielded the necessary profit.
Mr Asamoah Boateng said SIGA was committed to ensuring that state businesses and other public organizations followed strong corporate governance standards to serve the interests of the state.
