Asantehene urges Consolidated Bank to help grow agriculture sector

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) to roll out innovative products geared towards growing the agriculture sector, as a strategy to boost the economy.

He said as an indigenous Bank, wholly owned by government, it had a critical role to play in the growth of the sector, which served as a source of livelihood for many Ghanaians, touted as the backbone of the economy.

The King said it was worrying that despite the sector’s huge potential for economic growth, most banks were reluctant to give their support in the form of long term investments.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu was addressing members of the Board and Management of the Bank at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, when they paid a courtesy call on him.

The CBG Team, led by the Board Chairman, Mr Welbeck Abra-Appiah, was at the Palace to seek the blessings of the King ahead of the opening of two new branches of the Bank at Asafo and Alabar.

The Team also paid homage to the King as he celebrates his 20 years anniversary on the Golden Stool.

The Otumfuo counseled the leadership to adopt best banking practices to justify the confidence reposed in it by government and the Central Bank to protect the deposits of customers.

Members should think outside the box and manage the funds injected in the Bank judiciously, not only for the benefit of their customers but the growth of the national economy.

Mr Welbeck Abra-Appiah, the Board Chairman, said the CBG had strategically closed some of its branches due to the over-concentration of some branches of the seven banks that formed the consolidation, in particular locations.

He said the Ashanti Region had the highest number of branches with 22 out of the 90 branches across the country.

He pledged the commitment of the Bank to work in the interest of the tax payer whose funds was used to establish it to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the sector.

Mr Daniel Wilson Addo, the Managing Director of the Bank, said it would support Medium and Small Scale Enterprises (MSE), which were mostly indigenous businesses, to grow.