President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has inaugurated a seven-member Presidential Financial Stability Advisory Council to help strengthen the financial sector.
The Council is chaired by Dr Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana. It includes Mrs. Elsie Addo, Deputy Governor, BoG, Charles Adu Boahen, Deputy Minister of Finance, and Mr. Justice Yaw Ofori, Commissioner, National Insurance Commission as members.
The rest are Mr. Daniel Ogbarmey, Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Hayford Atta Krufi, Chief Executive, National Pensions Regulatory Authority, and Mr. Ignatius Wilson, Director, International Growth Center.
At a short ceremony at the Jubilee House in Accra, the President said the recent banking sector crisis in the country did not only undermine confidence in the economy but a risk that should not be entertained because it could undermine the stability of the country’s financial system.
He said the long period it took for the regulator to detect and restore sanity in the financial system required measures to mitigate future occurrences and uncertainties in the financial system.
Thus, his government he said, had taken the bold step to establish the Council to prevent any disastrous occurrences in the banking system and its ramification across the entire financial system.
The Council will among others, advise the President on how to strengthen and reinforce the stability of the financial system of the country, acting as an inter-institutional consultative coordination body and as well Coordinate the regulation supervision at the micro level, by focusing on matters of common concern in the various financial regulators involved in the regulation and supervision of financial entities in the country.
Additionally, the Council would help evaluate and mitigate financial stability risks by focusing on a timely detection and mitigation of risks in the stability of Ghana’s financial system.
President Akufo-Addo told the Council that “Your task is to coordinate and share information to ensure speedy recognition of problems and early resolution before they become systems problem. We are confident in your ability to do a greater public service.”
He urged the council to bear in mind, the potential catastrophe that could befall the average Ghanaian if the financial sector collapsed, and was optimistic that their rich experiences would strengthen the country’s financial systems.
“You should have in mind the farmer, commercial driver, market woman, carpenter, hairdresser, teacher, the head porter saving to go to school or build a career, to name a few, who wakes up one morning only to hear that his or her bank has collapsed and runs the risks of losing some or part of his or her lifetime savings,” he said.
Dr. Addison on his part thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and promised that the Council would safeguard the overall stability of the country’s financial system.
Source: GNA
