Chief Executive Officer of FBN Bank, Victor Yaw Asante, says banks in the country are now better placed to collaborate to finance multinational trade deals, which in the past would have been done by external banks.
Speaking at the FBNBank@25 National Trade Forum in Accra, which discussed the topic “Promoting trade between Ghana and the rest of the world”, he said such collaborations are helpful, as some trade deals are very big and would need other banks to come together to share the risk.
“Over my two decades of banking, I can say that we are in a much better place to do that now. We need that because risk sharing is very important and, sometimes, the force of numbers also helps. So if there are four or five banks in a deal and there are issues, collectively, we can resolve them better than when it’s just one bank,” Mr. Asante said.
He explained that local banks have become well-capitalised since the reforms in the industry three years ago, with most banks having at least US$100m in capitalisation.
“You will see that the banking assets have grown significantly in the last three years, so it will also mean that more linking can be done.”
He added that banks are doing a lot of structured trade and also educating clients on how to use trade documentation to facilitate trade.
According to him, these developments have improved the environment around lending, in addition to the establishment of the Export-Import Bank that is also playing a specific role to make sure that exporters are receiving support.
According to the World Bank, in 2019, trade contributed about 71 percent of Ghana’s GDP. This, Mr. Asante noted, tells the significant value that trade delivers to the economy.
The forum served as a catalyst for improvement in how Ghana’s trade is undertaken and brought to the fore ways in which relations with stakeholders and the country’s partners can deliver more benefits.