BOND Savings and Loans in good standing; ready to compete – Board Chair

Board Chairman of BOND Savings and Loans PLC has assured that the financial institution is in good fiscal standing to compete in its space.

Peter Osei-Duah, believes there is high confidence in the PLC and that they are open for more investments.

He said, “If you look at the average capital ratio of all savings and loans companies, you will realise they are below 10 per cent but that of Bond Savings and Loans is way above that (being above 16 per cent).”

Mr Osei-Duah was speaking at the launch of the 10th anniversary of BOND Savings and Loans in Accra.

So far, the microfinance and savings and loans sector has faced instances of risk disruptions and lack of confidence following poor corporate governance and deviation from laid down provisions as regulated by the Bank of Ghana.

But this is not the case with BOND especially when the Bank of Ghana has rated the company’s operational success higher than others.

Full banking license

It is to these positive pointers that suspicions of BOND transitioning to a fully-fledged bank heightens. But Peter Osei-Duah argues the company will remain to be market leaders in the savings and loans sector.

Mr Osei-Duah told JoyBusiness any move to acquire a banking license could over-stretch the company’s operational capacities.

He said, “The reason why a lot of Savings and Loans companies can’t progress beyond the coming kind of basic services is because of the lack of a basic capital. What distinguishes BOND from the others is our capacity to provide all the services that banks can offer. Why then will we entangle ourselves with the 400 million capital requirement when we are doing just fine where we are?”

Speaking at the event, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, advised management of the organization to be cautious in their engagements to ensure they never fall in the red books of the Bank of Ghana.

He said, “BOND should avoid breaches and pitfalls that have seen the downward spiral of many other financial service providers.”

Dr Bawumia said, “I would advise management to take its lending and risk management framework very seriously, enhance good corporate governance and submit to the rules of the regulator.”

He added, “At the end, what is good for the central bank, is good for all financial service providers. You are on top of your game when it comes to the savings and loans industry so keep it up and improve upon it.”

BOND is a Non-Bank Financial Institution licensed in 2007 under NBFI law PNDC Law 328 to provide financial services.

The company began operations as a finance house in 2008 and was able to acquire a Savings and Loans license in its fifth year of operation.

Source: Joybusiness