Africa-Press – Ghana. In 2023, the banking sector bounced back from the earlier losses recorded in 2022, as the effects of the Domestic Dept Exchange (DDEP) waned, alongside improvement in the macroeconomic environment, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison has said.
He stated that prudential returns (financial reports that are used to assess an institution’s compliance with regulatory requirements and provide regulators with information on the financial health and stability of a financial institution) submitted by banks indicated strong performance, with the key financial soundness indicators remaining broadly positive.
“The industry’s Capital Adequacy Ratio was 13.9 per cent at the end of December 2023, above the revised prudential minimum of 10.0 per cent. To deepen financial inclusion and drive broad-based growth, the Bank continued to implement policies and deployed regulatory tools to promote digital financial services.
“The first cohort of the Regulatory Sandbox was launched during the year to support innovations in the areas of new digital business models and further enhance the financial inclusion agenda,” Dr Addison said in the foreword of the BoG 2023 annual report and financial statement.
He further stated that 2023 was a challenging year, but at the same time fulfilling in terms of the progress made in unwinding the macroeconomic imbalances, as well as promoting financial stability.
He expressed hope that the bank will continue to maintain its focus and remain committed to the pursuit of the policies and programmes that contributed to the emerging recovery process in order to consolidate the gains achieved so far.
“Let me conclude by saying that 2023 was a challenging year, but at the same time fulfilling in terms of the progress made in unwinding the macroeconomic imbalances, as well as promoting financial stability.
“I would like to thank the Board, the MPC, and Staff of the Bank for their unflinching support and hard work. I have the fervent hope that next year, we will continue to maintain our focus and remain committed to the pursuit of the policies and programmes that contributed to the emerging recovery process in order to consolidate the gains achieved so far,” he said.
The Bank continued to improve the cyber environment for banks and other regulated financial institutions to promote the delivery of a safe digital financial industry, he added.
In the year, the Bank formally launched the Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FICSOC), a project initiated in November 2020, to address cyber risks on a broader level.
The FICSOC serves as an intelligence-sharing platform to continuously monitor and safeguard regulated financial institutions and the banking industry from cybersecurity threats.
In the review year, the Bank continued to coordinate, monitor, and evaluate risks within its operational areas. To assess system resilience, criticality tests of the Bank’s systems were successfully conducted. Also, a strong organisational culture was maintained with programmes and activities to improve the level of ethical awareness and ensure reinforcement of the Bank’s core values among staff. Building intellectual capital of staff remained a priority throughout the year.
To this end, the Bank continued to implement the Human Capital Support Project and conducted Employee Satisfaction Surveys, both aimed at enhancing staff competencies and improving human resource functions.
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