Economist Tells BoG To Publish Performance Rating Of All Financial Institutions

The Director of Business Operations of Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson is urging the Bank of Ghana to publish the performance ratings of financial institutions in the country.

According to him, this will restore the confidence of people in the financial sector.

The public has expressed worry and lack of trust in the financial sector following the collapse of seven banks within the past one year and revelations over why the institutions collapsed.

But Mr. Jackson said the central bank must not manage the crisis in secret but inform citizens through ratings and regular updates on the state of the various financial institutions.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Dalex Finance Annual Games and Awards ceremony, Joe Jackson said, publishing rating of all financial institutions will better inform customers on where to keep their monies.

“Let the light shine on everybody clearly so that those who are doing well will stand out. Some people say 'let's manage it, let's keep it quiet'. What happens with that is, everyone will be painted with the same brush. They [BoG] should declare who is good and who is bad.”

“In other countries, the institutions get rated. The Central Bank should rate us and let us publish our rating and when a customer is going to deposit his money, he can look at somebody's rating and know that it is not good. Then those who are doing well will stand out,” he said.

Ghana’s banking sector is currently in crisis over the collapse of seven local banks within 12 months. The banks are UT and Capital Bank, both of which has been taken over by the state’s GCB Bank.

The others are Beige Bank, Sovereign Bank, Construction Bank, uniBank, and Royal Bank, all of which has been consolidated into Consolidated Bank of Ghana.

The decision to collapse all the banks were primarily because they had all become highly insolvent as a result of various reasons including poor corporate governance.