People who have no access to bank accounts or other financial services – typically women and the youth – are unable to send and receive payments or store money. This puts a brake on their contribution to economic growth. On the other hand, when these excluded groups, particularly unbanked women,...
The annual Aggrey-Fraser-Guisberg Memorial Lectures, which was instituted in 1957 to commemorate three distinguished personalities in the nation’s history, is a major event in the life of the University of Ghana and indeed the nation as a whole. The theme for this year’s lecture was ‘Nkrumah and the Making of...
It is somewhat ironic that as we celebrate 25 years of democracy in the Fourth Republic, the passage of the Right to Information bill (RTI) into law has travelled 22 years of drafts, reviews and stalemates - just to give an indication of the wishy-washy manner in which we...
  "Commitment in the face of conflict produces character." - Mark Twain Dear readers, last week I shared some sentiments about how relationship banking can be optimised as a risk management tool. I concentrated on how customer visits and face to face meetings with borrowing customers could reduce loan defaults to...
Imagine this scenario; you are the Chief Executive or Founder of a company. It may be new, in the growth phase, or mature and established. I offer to give you money, technological infrastructure, access to new markets, training for existing staff, and I bring in some other experts for...
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) signed a loan agreement in September last year with 25 banks to borrow US$1.3billion. The facility was critical in COCOBOD’s pursuit to purchase a total of 850,000 tonnes of cocoa from farmers for the crop season. Amid fears that the loan cannot be repaid, the...
Identity fraud and fraudulent transactions are major risks in the global banking system, and that is why financial institutions go to great lengths in trying to insulate banks from cybercrime and other fraudulent activities. In fact, PwC’s Global Economic Crime Survey 2016 revealed that cybercrime  has now jumped to the second...
The government of the People’s Republic of China has said that it is more determined now than ever to end poverty by 2020 and ensure that no citizen of China is left behind. Working to ensure this is achieved in a country which has a population of over 1.2 billion,...
Performance Management is possibly the 2nd most confusing business process after Change Management. Performance Management is simply about promoting a continuous appraisal of employee effectiveness. This appraisal function can turn eventually into a continuous process where organizations / managers and employees liaise to enhance better planning, monitoring and reviewing...
In recent months, a lot of Ghanaians had cause to be worried about the state of security in the country as armed robberies appeared to be rife, and very little seemed to being done about it. In a state of anguish, many Ghanaians called for resignation of the IGP...