Ghanaian GCB Bank plans Anglo-West Africa expansion, Nigeria, others in view
Before the end of the year, chances of a Ghanaian financial institution entering the already saturated Nigerian banking industry are green very possible.
This is coming on the heels of leading Ghanaian banking group, the GCB Bank, disclosing its plans to expand operations into the West Africa sub-region, beginning with the English-speaking economies.
Besides, the group which is leading in adoption of financial technology in driving fresh move to begin strategic partnership with a foreign partner to form a joint venture to provide insurance products.
Managing Director of the bank, Mr Ray Anselm Sowah, who gave the insights during a recent ‘Facts behind the Figures’ programme on the Ghana Stock Exchange, observed that expanding service delivery to more West African economies will raise shareholders’ fortune and place the bank on the evolving African financial market space.
He further informed investors, media chiefs and market makers that “We are also looking at the sub-region. We have an agenda of moving into various countries and we are prosecuting that agenda. We do hope that we will make investments into other countries and that will inure to the benefit of people to have the opportunity of going out to learn new things and to teach people what they have learnt here.”
On the drive to diversify into boosting non-funded interest, Sowah revealed that GCB is on the verge of converting its subsidiary, called Development Finance Holdings into a full investment bank to be known as GCB Security Limited.
He said “That subsidiary is going to do all the works in investment banking in this country and compete for business in terms of book running and investments. So, we do hope that we will create another stream of income from that.”
Sowah further assured stock market stakeholders that in line with GCB’s strategic plan, will be focusing on providing first-class banking solutions to all customers and value to stakeholders as well as meet the everyday needs of the people.
“GCB Bank would rely heavily on safe, secure and convenient mobile and digital banking to drive the agenda of bringing banking to the doorstep of businesses and the people of West Africa.
“We want to let people from all walks of life, especially the un-banked to have access to this banking in a way they have never had before. We have a mobile banking wallet, which is coming out shortly and in this there is going to have a refreshing progress,” Sowah added.
While noting that GCB will launch its Mobile wallet, Internet Banking with trade solution and mobile application all by July 2019 with Agency Banking coming on stream in December 2019, the Managing Director argued that “The banking landscape is changing and competition is no longer restricted to only the banks but clearly the Telecoms are in growing ascendancy because they have contemporary stage of hard digital platforms and so they have access to significant pool of money”.
“Our strategy therefore is to rope this people and transition all of these new entrants on to our digital platform and bring them into the high levels of financial integration by offering a wide range of financial services and opportunities overtime.
“You may look at the Telecoms and think that they are in competition but to us, they are potential partners and we are going to use them at different levels of the banking spectrum,” Managing Director of GCB Bank, Ghana averred.
