HFC Bank Seeks Shareholders Vote On Rebranding

HFC bank is set to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting to seek the vote of its shareholders to rebrand, raise some funds on the Ghana Stock Exchange and elect directors of the company.

The meeting which will be held on the 28th of September is expected to also outdoor the new Managing Director of the bank, Anthony Jordan, who took over from Robert Le Hunte.

In July this year, Mr. Le Hunte told Citi Business News the board has approved for the bank to be rebranded as Republic bank. In addition, the board approved a move to raise 50 million cedis on the bourse.

The bank also announced that it has been able to cover 65 percent of its Non Performing Loans(NPL) in the first half of 2017.

This is in addition to the bank declaring a profit after tax of 26.5 million cedis, representing an increase of 52 percent for the same period.

Mr. Le Hunte assured at the time that the bank has returned to improving its profitability after making a loss of 80 million dollars for two years.

"After 2 years of losses and GH¢150 million in provision, HFC Bank returned to profitability producing the best first half year results in the history of their 27 years of existence. Additionally, the Bank now boasts of having one of the highest cover ratio i.e. provision to non-performing loans of over 65% which provides the Bank with protection against future shocks going forward," Mr. Le Hunte told Citi Business News before his exit

He attributed the good results to the hard work of the Staff and the focus on recoveries over the past two years.

Even though he admitted the work was far from over, Mr. Le Hunte also stated that the bank was now in a better position than 2 years ago when Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) took over control.

"During the two year period, over US$30 million was spent on upgrading the Information Technology infrastructure and refurbishment of the branch network. In addition, investment was made in training and developing the Staff with the assistance of RFHL," he said at time.

He stated that the bank will raise 50 million cedis from the bourse after a board is constituted for the Securities and Exchange Commission

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

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