This report covers developments in the Ghanaian banking sector. By end-December 2016, the sector comprised thirty-three (33) banks, of which sixteen (16) were domestically controlled and the remaining seventeen (17) were foreign-controlled.
In total, the bank branch was 1,342 branches distributed across the ten (10) regions of the country. The performance of the banking sector remained strong, underpinned by relatively strong asset growth and marginal improvement in liquidity in 2016.
Asset growth was largely driven by increases in banks’ investment portfolio and foreign assets. Banks’ solvency, as measured by the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) recorded no significant change and remained well above the required threshold over the review period.
Asset quality, however deteriorated within the year, although the last quarter of 2016 reflected some improvement following the restructuring, reclassification and commencement of repayment of the energy related State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) debts owed banks.
