Fidelity Bank Limited (FBL) has established an “Asia Desk” within its corporate banking outfit to utilize the growing co-operation and trade activity between Africa and Asia towards accelerated growth.
The move is to provide leverage for the FBL’s network and to strengthen the corporate entity’s position in international transactions involving Asia.
Mr Edward Effah, Managing Director of FBL, who made this known on Wednesday at the Bank’s Annual General Meeting, held in Accra, said management had established an office in Singapore to facilitate trade and financial transfers between Ghana and Asia.
He said management took the decision because it perceived that global political and economic power was shifting towards the East and that Asia’s economic power had raised in tandem with the trade flows into Africa.
Mr Effah said “by 2020, more than 1.2 billion people are projected to have a per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of more than 5,000 dollars in Asia.”
He added that management was committed towards establishing the banking relationship to facilitate future activities between the new economic giants and Ghana.
Mr Effah expressed optimism that the bank would take advantage of the emerging opportunities in the oil and gas sectors to enable the corporate entity realize its vision of becoming a “World Class Bank.”
Mr William Panford Bray, Chairman, Board of Directors of FBL, expressed the hope that shareholders would approve, through a resolution, the proposal to raise additional capital in convertible preference share and or other debt instrument that may have convertible options to meet Bank of Ghana’s minimum capital requirement of GHC60 million by 2012.
FBL’s profit before tax for 2010 financial year was GHC6.8 million, a figure that represented a 119 per cent increase from GHC3.1 million for 2009.
Total assets at the end of 2010 stood at GHc650 million compared to GHc362 million at the end of 2009.
With staff strength of 1,013, FBL has a customer base of more than 120,000. The bank has 25 branches in the country.