President swears in 7-member Board for Deposit Protection Corporation

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has inaugurated a seven-member board of directors for the Ghana Deposit Protection Corporation (GDPC).

The board, which is chaired by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Kwamina Addison, will build an effective, credible and strong deposit protection scheme to protect depositors’ funds and to support the development of a safe, sound, efficient and stable market-based financial system in the country.

The protection scheme will also help reduce the fiscal cost incurred by the government should there be the need for a bank resolution, and as per the act governing the scheme, all existing exposure taking institutions certified by the central bank qualify as members of the scheme.

The other members of the board are Mrs Pearl Esua-Mensah, Mr Sampson Akligoh, Rev. Mrs Patricia Sappor, Mr Joseph Hyde Jnr, Mr George Amissah Jnr and Dr Daniel K. Seddoh.

Significance

The President, who swore in the board, said the corporation had come at a sensitive time in the operations of the banking industry, especially after the recent reforms of the sector.

He said in executing its mandate, the board would require maximum care, integrity and professionalism and expressed confidence in the members to live up to expectation.

“All of these institutions are being put into place now as a result of the reforms that are going through our economy. They are reforms that are necessary for the well-being of our nation,” he added.

He urged the board members to work assiduously to ensure that their decisions reflected positively in the lives of the people at all times.

President Akufo-Addo further reminded them that they were not offered the opportunity to serve on the board for self benefit but for the good of the country.

He expressed confidence in the board and said with Dr Addison as the Chairman, there was the hope that it would meet the expectations of Ghanaians.

He observed that in recent times, the governor had been the subject of criticism by some people and described the development as the outcome of the reforms in the banking industry, adding that people who took painful but important measures of reforms for the benefit of a country usually received such criticisms.

Appreciation

Dr Addison expressed appreciation to the President for the confidence reposed in the board members and pledged to be relentless in driving the affairs of the corporation to become a key pillar to secure financial stability in Ghana.

He said the corporation was coming at a time Ghana was experiencing a healthy financial sector.

He said by asking banking institutions to pay premium towards depositors’ protection fund against insurable events, Ghana was asking the banks to share the cost of resolution with the corporation.

Dr Addison further said by charging member institutions additional contributions in the event of an extraordinary situation beyond the capacity of the corporation, “we are consciously instigating positive peer pressure among them; we are in effect asking the banks to show interest in the excessive risk-taking behaviours of their peers in the industry”.