New ADB boss must restore confidence in bank — Nana Otuo
Banking consultant Nana Otuo Acheampong has urged the new Managing Director of ADB Bank, Mr Daniel Asiedu, to work towards the restoration of the lost confidence in the bank by its staff and customers.
Advertisement
He said the issues of broken confidentiality and mishaps over human resource management had caused the bank a lot of damage in the last few months prior to his appointment and noted that unless those issues among others were resolved, the bank would struggle to find its lost glory.
Nana Otuo Acheampong made the call in an interview as he shared some thoughts on the appointment of the new ADB boss in Accra yesterday.
“Issues about confidentiality is key in banking; once people lose confidence because their account details are disclosed to the public, the confidence is gone and there will be no banking,” he said.
“Again the staff need to have the confidence to work with a leader and manager who is determined to lead in a manner that the staff will not feel victimised,” Nana Otuo Acheamong said.
The issues
In the middle of last year, the bank went through a myriad of challenges in relation to a number of decisions taken by the previous Managing Director, Mr Stephen Kpordzih.
These included the sale of the ADB House for what the staff of the bank described as a pittance and the renting of a new head office block at an exorbitant cost to the bank.
The bank was also faced with issues regarding large amounts of loan defaults, a phenomenon the staff alleged were deliberate attempts by some board members and their cronies to run down the bank only to acquire it when it was eventually floated on the local bourse.
The mother union of the bank in its quest to save ADB from what it described as ‘the mess of one man” took a number of actions including strikes and petitions to the President as they fought to restore the bank to its former glory.
These, among many others, forced the bank to twice postpone its intended Initial Public Offer (IPO) to raise funds to expand its operations.
IPO success
The bank has since the last quarter of last year made a public offer consisting of the sale of 74,888,369 existing ADB Shares, an offer for subscription of 75,471,698 new ADB shares at the offer price, and the primary listing of all the 155,451,524 existing ADB shares and 75,471,698 new shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
The bank is undertaking this offer and subsequent listing on the GSE to raise additional capital to support its expansion plans and have the flexibility to finance future expansion and growth.
Usually, public disturbances about a company affects its share price on the stock exchange.
Again, for a company to have a successful IPO, it requires a positive press and good public perception to enable people to patronise.
Asked about whether the bank’s IPO would generate some more interest from the public, Nana Otuo Acheampong responded in the positive.
“The turmoil and controversy that surrounded the entire process is gone and I am sure that with the track record of Mr Asiedu, many people and institutions will have some confidence in the bank and do the obvious”, he said.
Mr Daniel Asiedu, an experienced banker and a former Managing Director of Zenith Bank Ghana, takes office as the MD of the Agricultural Development Bank Limited (ADB) on March 1.
Mr Asiedu replaces Mr Stephen Kpordzih, who resigned last year in the wake of the controversy that engulfed the bank.
ADB fortunes
The bank’s fortunes have been dwindling for the past few years mainly as a result of generic challenges arising from lack of investments.
Its net profit declined by 40 per cent in 2014, dropping from GH¢80.63 million in 2013 to GH¢47.87 million.
Advertisement
The decline was mainly as a result of a substantial growth in interest income, a challenge Mr Asiedu would be expected to address.
Profile
Mr Asiedu has been the MD of Zenith Bank Ghana for over a period of six years after serving the Zenith Group for over 16 years.
A Chartered Accountant by profession with about 20 years’ working experience, he has extensive expertise in auditing, business consulting, general banking, financial management and investment.
His working experience ranges from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Zenith Bank Plc, Volta River Authority (VRA) and Standard Trust Bank Ghana Ltd (now UBA (Gh.) Ltd).
Advertisement
The ordained minister of the gospel holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration (Finance Option) from the University of Ghana.
Mr Asiedu has also attended many courses both locally and internationally, including Executive Management courses at Harvard Business School, Columbia University, The Wharton Business School (University of Pennsylvania), Stanford Graduate Business School, Kellogg School of Management, INSEAD and Euromoney Training.