HFC Bank Posts Profit After Two Years of Stress

By Cindy OFORI

The management of the HFC bank, a subsidiary of the Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, after recording a loss of GHC150 million over the last two years, has posted profit.

The bank says it has one of the highest cover ratios - that is the provision to non-performing loans - of over 65 per cent, which provides the bank with protection against future shocks.

Mr. Robert le Hunte, Managing Director of HFC Bank, said, during the last two years the bank has improved on good service delivery to their customers.

He said over US$30 million was spent on upgrading the information technology infustructure and renovation of the branch networks of the bank.

According to him, investment was also made in training and developing the staff with the assistance of the Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL).

The Managing Director of the bank made the revelation at a ceremony to brief the media on the new developments in the management of the bank.

Mr. Le- Hunte said although he admits that the work was far from over, it was also clearly obvious that the bank was now in a better position than two years ago when the RFHL took control.

"In spite of the two consecutive years of loses, the bank was still able to remain active in the community and actually increased its level of Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR)," said Mr. Le- Hunte.

He added that the good results and profit gained was as a result of the hard work of the staff and the focus on recoveries over the past two years.

"Board members of the HFC Bank approached the shareholders on two important matters; firstly was to increase the level of capital of the bank by GHC50 million and also to change the name of the bank to Republic Bank (Ghana) Limited in keeping with new ownership structure.

"This new capital together with the BBB+ S&P rating of the Republic Bank limited makes the bank one of the strongest in the industry and put them in a better position to build strong foundation in the housing industry and the future prospects in the oil and gas industry," the bank said.

The MD also claims that his biggest achievement over the past two years was building a culture at the HFC that will allow the organisation to survive not only in the short but in the long term.

HFC bank became a member of the Republic Financial Holdings Limited in May 2015 after a successful mandatory takeover, he noted.

"The over one hundred million Dollars ($100 million) investment made by the Republic Financial Holdings Limited in the HFC Bank represent one of the largest investment by a Diaspora company in Ghana.

"In view of this, HFC bank was recognized for this investment at the prestigious diaspora Africa forum excellence awards dinner in July this year," the MD said.

In addition, the bank was recognized by the Institution of Human Resource Management practitioners (IHRMP) as the most successful change management program.

The bank was also adjudged the most telephone efficient bank in the financial institution survey conducted by Walsbridge Market Research.

At the 16th Ghana Banking Awards 2017, HFC bank received the second runner-up award in Corporate Social Responsibility and first runner-up in trade finance.

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