Banking institutions also going through tough times – John Awuah

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Bankers, John Awuah, says the banking industry is often a soft target for the population during economic downturns as the country is experiencing now.

According to him, while the banking industry is a residual recipient of risk in the country, people tend to conflate its role within the fiscal ecosystem as the cause of some of the economic challenges the country faces.

These sentiments, he said, are misplaced as the banks themselves also suffer, maybe even worse, from the general challenges that affect the country’s economy.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition, he said, “The sympathy of the nation does not lie with banks per se, we are a soft kind of target for the population, and sometimes we receive a lot of flak for things that we do not cause.

“But people ordinarily, normally forget that we also exist in the economy and whatever challenges individuals are going through as bankers as banking institutions we are also facing similar challenges.”

He noted that the population tends to forget that when they are unable to meet their obligations to banks due to the economic hardship, it is banks that have to suffer the brunt.

“We are a residual recipient of risk in the country, so because of where interest rates are businesses are struggling to pay their loans, but who gave them the loans? It’s the banks. So who is going to bear the risk, the ultimate risk the business man has taken? It’s the bank.

“If you’re a salary worker, and you took a mortgage when the rate was 5 Ghana Cedis to the dollar and all of a sudden it is 10 Ghana cedis to the dollar, your salary is fixed at a certain amount, all of a sudden your debt service ratio instead of 40% is like 70%, you have other obligations you have to meet, if you’re struggling to meet your obligations of repayment expectations from the bank, who is bearing that risk? It’s the bank.

“So sometimes we simplify the pressures and the risk that the banks assume particularly in settings such as the economic climate that Ghana finds itself in at the moment,” he explained.

John Awuah stated that the population needs to be aware that the banks and their staff also exist within the same economic ecosystem and thus whatever general affliction also affects them same.

“As I said it’s a very delicate balance. The staff of banks are just like any other people. Just like people are struggling to buy fuel, people are packing their cars or having short trips or doing ride sharing, it’s the same thing happening in the industry.

“So we are not exonerated from the pressures in the economy and to that extent just like any other economic actor the banking institutions are also really going through some tough times,” he said.