BoG not collapsing rural and community banks – ARB Apex Bank denies rumours

The ARB Apex Bank has asked the public to disregard a message making the rounds that the central bank will soon revoke licenses of rural and community banks.

According to the press release, a malicious audio message circulating on social media platforms including WhatsApp is purporting that Bank of Ghana has plans to withdraw the licenses of some operating Rural and Community Banks (RCBs).

The Apex Bank stated that those messages have “no basis.”

“Rather, the Bank of Ghana in a Notice dated 16 August 2019 made it clear that RCBs are key in its financial inclusion agenda and therefore will work with the ARB Apex Bank to reposition the rural and community banking sector to enable them to better support rural economic development,” the statement said.

The Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank who signed the letter added, “the general public and the teaming customers of RCBs are advised to ignore the malicious message and do business with the RCBs. The Bank of Ghana has completed the clean-up exercise and will NOT “descend” on RCBs as is being maliciously circulated.”