Cal Bank to Raise U.S.$120 Million for Its Operations

By Kingsley Asare

Cal Bank, a leading universal bank in the country, is in discussion with some international development finance institutions (DFIs) to raise $120 million to finance the operations of the bank.

"The first tranche of the loan would be concluded before the end of the year," Philip Owiredu, Executive Director of the bank, has said.

Mr Owiredu who disclosed this at the bank's turn of the "Facts behind the figures" programme at the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra, said the Cal Bank had already raised $105 million from partners such as the IFC, Proparco, and Finfund.

He said the funds would help the bank to meet the financial needs of its customers and medium to long-term financial obligation of Cal Bank to its partners as they fell due.

"We need the new financial resources to be able to execute the growth strategy and agenda of the company," the Executive Director said.

He explained that the international DFIs were ready and willing to advance new loans to the bank due to the swift repayment Cal Bank made on previous facilities it took from those institutions.

Mr Owiredu said Cal Bank was on course to meeting the GH¢400 million minimum capital requirement by the Bank of Ghana, saying so far the bank had raised GH¢350 million, leaving a balance of GH¢50 million.

The Executive Director said the bank was hopeful of raising the remaining amount of the MCR, pointing out that as at March this year, Cal Bank had GH¢120 million in its income surplus account.

Touching on the 2018 third quarter financial performance, Mr Owiredu said the Cal Group grew its profit after tax by 0.9 per cent from GH¢113,641 million in 2017 to GH¢114,650 million in 2018.

He attributed the muted profit to huge impairment loss and general economic conditions of the country.

Mr Owiredu said total income of the bank increased by five per cent from GH¢342,579 million in 2017 to GH¢359,785 million in 2018.

Total assets of the Cal Group, he said also went up by 29 per cent GH¢3.89 million in 2017 to GH¢5.02 million in 2018.

The Executive Director indicated that the bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 23 per cent, well above the current regulatory of ten per cent and Non-Performing Loans went down from 12.6 per cent last year to 7.4 per cent this year.

Highlighting on the outlook and strategy for the bank, he said the management would focus on risk management, agent and corporate banking.

He said digital banking would be another strategic focus of the bank, adding that plans were far advanced for the bank to engage in bond trading to improve on the income of the bank.

The Head of Corporate and Investor Relations, Madam Dzifa Amegashie said the bank was relatively doing well among its peers, despite investors shifting to the U.S due to the strengthening of the dollar and the economic recovery of the U.S economy.

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