Shareholders approve GH¢127m capital support for adb
Shareholders of the Agricultural Development Bank (adb) yesterday unanimously approved an amount of GH¢127 million from the Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT) to enable the bank meet the GH¢400 million minimum requirement by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The amount which ADB needs to meet the BoG capital requirement would give GAT significant shares in the Bank.
The government move was to also strengthen the bank’s capital base to enable it increase business undertaking of its numerous clients.
The shareholders gave the approval at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank yesterday in Accra.
The AGM also sought to waive the pre-emptive rights of shareholders in relation to the ordinary shares to be issued to the Ghana Amalgamated Trust Plc in relation to the private placement.
It was to further authorise the directors of the company subject to applicable rules, to determine the term, timing and pricing of the private placement.
The Board Chairman of the Bank, Alex Bernasko commended the shareholders for the bold decision and said the bank was resolved to stay in line with the BoG’s governance directive necessary to enable adb revise its corporate governance code policy and charter.
According to him, the bank recorded a profit before tax of GH¢34 million in 2018 registering a dip from GH¢47 million achieved in 2017 which he attributed to new changing regulations in the banking sector coupled with the fake takeover of adb by another bank adding that “2018 was a particular year that held a lot of challenges for the bank ranging from changes in its shareholding structure to effects of regulatory reforms.
“We are convinced that the strategies put in place would set the foundations for better performance going forward apart from the growth in the shareholding funds from GH¢479 million in 2018 due to the injection of new funding,” he added.
Mr Bernasko stated that the bank’s currently paid up capital stands at GH¢552.1 million much over the requirement only to be reduced on applying the negative income surplus of GH¢294 million coming out of previous losses and assured that “the bank would comply with all regulatory requirements of the Ghana Deposit Protection Act.”
The Board Chairman indicated that the five-year strategic plan of the bank spanning 2018-2022 was gradually achieving its milestone and with support of management would achieve its stated objectives through the mobilisation of more deposits, book quality loans.
The Managing Director of the bank, Dr John Kofi Mensah assured of the bank’s readiness to leverage on its wide products and branch networks to put in an advantageous position through its robust Information Technology infrastructure, agriculture led portfolio for the financial and human capital development of the bank.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
