GCB Bank has met with its key corporate clients as part of its normal customer-interaction activities dubbed “CEO’s Breakfast Meeting” and has taken the opportunity to engage them on how to navigate through the current challenging times in a session titled “Thriving in Uncertainty through Partnership and Collaboration”.
The discussion, which was moderated by renowned Professor Noel Tagoe, brought together Bank clients from a variety of businesses to discuss how to handle recent changes in the financial sector that have affected the Bank.
According to the publications of the Bank’s Full Year 2022 Results, the Bank’s participation in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) is thought to be what caused them to report a Loss After Tax of GHS593m and other below-expectation developments.
The interaction session therefore offered an opportunity for the management of the Bank to engage their corporate clients and allay their fears as the Bank is poised to retain its position as the banking industry leader following improvements in its financial results for Q1 2023.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Kofi Adomakoh, the managing director of GCB Bank, acknowledged that the DDEP had crippled the entire banking sector, including GCB without exception, and that this had resulted in losses for the Bank. The DDEP was fueled by rising interest rates, rapid currency depreciation, high debt GDP, and high inflation, among other factors.
He added that the repercussions from the DDEP have had a direct impact on the Bank’s capital, liquidity, revenue and profitability as well as resulting in significant losses in returns to clients, and shareholders.
The CEO also used the opportunity to reassure the clients that the Bank was well placed to navigate through the challenges as evidenced by the First Quarter 2023 Performance it had recently posted.
He shared some of the key highlights of the current performance which include the Bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio, in spite of the impact of the DDEP, stands at 17.6 percent, which is well above the regulatory threshold of 10 percent.
Moreover, the Bank recorded a significant growth of 27.4 percent in Non-Funded Income to Revenue as well as an increase in total deposit base of GHS 20.12b within the period. This and more showed the Bank’s resilience against the current turbulence in the financial sector and how the Bank is on the road to recovery.
Customers Recognized As Kings In The Banking Environment
According to Mr. Adomah, customers play a cardinal role in the sustainability of every business and important engagements such as the CEO’s Breakfast Meeting helps to have a better understanding of what customer needs are.
He implied that in order for the Bank and its clients to successfully manage the issues, they must collaborate.
“Partnerships are key to thriving in these uncertain days. As a bank, it is of utmost importance that we keep and maintain a strong collaboration with our foremost stakeholder which is you, the customer, in order to weather the storm.
“We have shown in our 70-year rich history that we are resilient, and are able to bounce back from any setback that comes our way. We therefore extend our hand of partnership to you because we believe that with your support, we can put the Bank back on winning ways in the not-so-distant future”.
Mr. Kofi Adomakoh
Professor Noel Tagoe on his part, urged banks and businesses to find new ways of doing business. According to him, “when there is crisis the best option is to remain calm, keep it simple and identify those factors you can control and deal with.”
The Deputy Managing Director, Finance, Mr Socrates Afram and the Executive Director, Wholesale and Investment Banking, Mr Sam Aidoo, the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, Mr. Eric Coffie and the Head of Corporate Banking, Mr. Linus Kumi were on hand to provide answers to questions posed by the customers.
