uniBank Seeks GH�60m Capital

With barley one year left for local banks to recapitalize, uniBank Ghana Limited has indicated its intention to raise GH�60 million ahead of the December 31, 2012 deadline set by the Bank of Ghana(BoG). Few weeks ago, the Central Bank threatened to revoke the licence of banks, which fail to meet the new capital requirement. Clifford Mettle, General Manager, International Banking told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE that the bank was exploring options to raise GH�60 million capital in earnest. �We have developed a capital plan to the Bank of Ghana for approval so by the end of June next year we hope to have met the capital requirement. Mind you we have been looking at certain businesses such as upstream oil and therefore we need financial muscle to underwrite huge ticket deals.� He also revealed that the indigenous bank plans to undertake international banking at the yet to be completed World Trade Center situated at the heart of Accra. Mr. Mettle added that the bank will increase its branch network and bring on board technology driven products while assuring customers that 2012 will be a big year. Meanwhile, uniBank Ghana Limited over the weekend partnered Zoomlion Ghana to clean the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and its environs. The exercise, which simultaneously took place at Ashaiman, Kumasi and Takoradi, formed part of the bank�s corporate social responsibility. Mr. Mettle said the clean-up exercise will be an annual event, adding, �What we intend doing is that every year we will embark upon the clean exercise to ensure that first of all we keep our environment clean and secondly get other people to take part in the exercise.� He added that the bank was supporting government to rebrand Accra, the capital city and the other parts of the country to attract more investors and tourists. �In everything we do we put the customer at the center so we are looking at making them feel that we care.�