Cal Bank In Contact With International Partners

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Cal Bank, Mr Frank Adu said the Bank is in discussions with international partners to raise $200 million to finance its operations.

He said the funds if raised would be used to fund capital budget items such as assisting companies to acquire new machineries, indicating that the money would enable the bank to provide medium term loans for bank's clients.

Mr Adu who was speaking on the Facts-behind-the-Figures programme of the Ghana Stock Exchange to discuss the Bank's performance with the investing public, said an agreement for the first tranche of $55 million of the loan would be signed in the next week.

Mr Adu said $12.5 million of the loan would be used to fund women entrepreneurs, while another $12.5 million would be use to fund Green Energy projects to protect the environment.

He said the Bank last year financed two thermal projects in the Western Region at the cost of $85 million and also a Dock Project also estimated at $85 million.

'We want to support the development of the economy in a meaningful way,' he said.

On the non-payment of government obligation to the banks, Mr Adu said the trend was having a telling impact on the banks.

'Local banks are really suffering for their exposure to the State given that government activities constitute about 70 per cent of Gross Domestic Product,' he said.

The Chief Financial Officer of Cal Bank, Mr Philip Owiredu, said the Cal Bank Group in the first quarter of 2018 made a profit after tax of 34million, which is 7.4 per cent increase over the profit after tax recorded same period last year.

He said Bank would be cautious in growing its loan book and would engage in sectors that would bring good returns and engender growth of the Bank, adding that the Bank was putting structure in place to deploy its agent banking.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, Mr Kofi Yamoah, lauded the Cal Bank for its performance in spite the difficult economic situation.

He entreated the management of the Bank to continue to put strategies in place to improve the profitability of the Bank.

GNA