The Board and Management of GCB Bank have urged the public to disregard a false and malicious letter purporting to address issues of corruption and bad corporate governance in the operations of the bank.
According to the bank, the letter was posted on a fake and cloned news website and subsequently circulated on social media last week regarding bad corporate governance and accounting irregularities related to the bank’s loan portfolio.
“The content of the letter which was authored by a group calling itself ‘Concerned Staff of GCB’ are false, malicious and intended to discredit the Board and Management of the Bank. The malicious persons tried to imitate the official website of a credible and well-known media house in Ghana,” a statement issued by GCB Bank said.
The bank explained that it will typically not engage in communication with anonymous persons but in the interest of the bank and its reputation, it feels obliged to respond to the matter to assure its cherished customers, hard-working staff and the general public that the bank remains committed to good corporate governance.
“The Bank has well-structured procedures for escalating issues of concern and for reporting any acts of wrongdoing through a whistle blower policy. The group failed to adhere to the Bank’s internal procedures but rather sought to use malicious means to damage the reputation of the Bank”.
The statement stressed that the bank has an established credit underwriting and approval process that is comparable with international best practice and all credits are subjected to this process for approval.
It added that in the administration and monitoring of its loan portfolio, GCB has consistently complied with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Bank of Ghana guidelines.
Providing more details on the fallacious letter, the statement said the author of the letter makes reference to related party loans which were duly approved after following the bank’s internal processes.
“These related party loans were fully disclosed to the relevant authorities in accordance with regulatory requirements and were duly reported in the Bank’s 2020 audited financial statements. GCB remains very well capitalized with a capital adequacy ratio [CAR] significantly exceeding the minimum regulatory ratio of 13%. As of 31st December, 2020 and 31st March 2021 the CAR of the bank was 20.6% and 19.7% respectively”.
The Board and Management reiterated that GCB has a rich heritage and is a national asset that must be shielded and protected from persons with malicious intent, as the management continue to engage and collaborate with all staff and other stakeholders to execute its strategy to dominate the market in Ghana.
