Let’s elevate debate on US$2.25bn bonds - Alhassan Andani

The President of the Ghana Association Bankers (GAB), Mr Alhassan Andani, says the international capital market could punish the economy for public comments that impugn wrongdoing in the recently issued US$2.25 billion bonds.

As a result, he has cautioned media commentators to seek information about how the capital market operates before publishing or running commentary that could lead to a future flop in the country’s bond flotation.

“This will not be the first or last time we will go into the international debt capital market and if we say something, we are not just hurting one player but we are probably passing a message on to other serious players, which will affect our future flotation. Therefore, we should be very careful in our comment,” Mr Andani told the media after the launch of Stanbic Bank’s ‘Save to Gain’ campaign in Accra.

Criticisms 

The government has been criticised in the media for the issuance of the US$2.25 billion bonds. 

The Minority in Parliament raised issues of conflict of interest and further called for a parliamentary inquiry into how one investor was able to purchase 95 per cent of the bonds.

The minority insists the bonds were signed for personal interest and shrouded in secrecy and also had no parliamentary approval.

These have been denied by government, with Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia describing the minority’s position as ignorant.

Following the Minority’s stance, public commentary on the matter has increased.

This, Mr Andani says, could prove injurious to the economy.

“It is about the country’s reputation, so those of us who report on these transactions should make sure that we are well informed. If we just touch these people (international investors), they will give anything up for their reputation and, therefore, we should be very careful with the kind of commentary we run around,” Mr Andani, who is also the Managing Director of Stanbic Bank Ghana, said.

He stated that once a country decided to play from the international capital market, it needed to be aware that the participants whose resources would be tapped into are very monstrous companies and must, therefore, be handled with care.

“They are huge companies with wide international reputations and, therefore, we have to be extremely careful if we are making any comment that is going to impugn wrongdoing to especially the people we will go to to raise capital at any point in time,” he added.

New campaign

Meanwhile, Stanbic Bank Ghana has launched a new campaign to encourage the culture of savings from both its existing and new customers.

Dubbed ‘Save to Gain’, it is a national savings campaign intended to improve the savings culture, financial inclusion and economic growth and prosperity.

The campaign, which encourages customers to sign up for the Pure Save Account, a high interest savings products, is expected to run from April 3, to August 2, 2017 and will award a grand prize of GH¢100,000.

Mr Andani said the promotion formed part of the company’s commitment to promote financial inclusion by ensuring that financial services were available to Ghanaians from all walks of life.

He added that the campaign had a double purpose of sensitising Ghanaians to the importance of savings while opening a window for them to have a personal financial security.

“Seventy per cent of Ghanaians are unbanked and out of the 30 per cent that have accounts, only few have a consistent savings habit,” the chief executive said.

The promotion details

Giving details of the promotion, Mr Andani said it was open to all existing and new customers and added that there was a wide range of flexible saving options for individuals and small business owners.

“To enter the promotion, new and old customers must deposit a minimum of GH¢500 and maintain a minimum balance of the same amount in their Pure Save Account,” he explained.

According to him, every deposit of GH¢500 earns the customer a coupon and qualifies him/her to be entered into a weekly bonanza and a chance to win GH¢10,000 in the monthly draw.

“Four deposits of GH¢500 or every deposit of GH¢2,000 earns customers a money zone coupon and qualifies them into a GH¢100,000 draw at the end of the campaign. The cash prizes for the campaign will be immediately paid into the customer’s account,” he stated.

To encourage the savings culture, he said all deposits made as part of the campaign must be saved with the financial institution for four months, starting from the date of deposit.