<<Print>>

The Societe-General (SG) Ghana will open three branches this year in a bid to expand and offer easy access to its innovative products to customers. Two of the branches will be in Accra and one in Kasoa. Mr Gilbert Hie, Managing Director of SG Ghana, said the bank is also rebranding and standardising its branch networks to scale the stiff competition in the banking sector and to increase market share in loans and deposits. The bank, he said, is also looking forward to optimise its costs despite the rise in inflation and to develop its bond trading business. �The year 2012 was the first full year of bond trading. The bank is looking to develop performance with a diversified number of counterparties in the interbank market,� Mr Hie said, adding that the focus would also be on leveraging funding for oil and gas. Touching on the financing of small and medium enterprises, Mr Hie said SG Ghana had signed a 10-million dollar credit facility agreement with Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD). �With this the bank has entered into a 50-50 risk sharing participation agreement with AFD where risks on certain SME facilities are shared,� he said. Mr Hie said the bank is committed to its key stakeholders and would partner with customers to meet their banking dreams and aspirations. He said despite challenges with foreign currency deposits and vostro balances imposed on financial institutions, SG Ghana remained a lender to the market. He said although there was a decline in treasury investment, the bank�s income remained strong due to rapid growth in interest rates. Mr Hie said the bank would enhance operational efficiency through improvement in key procedures and to make service delivery seamless and efficient in order to meet its target to capture a significant percentage of the growing bankable population.