The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, has urged the Republic Bank to use its entrance into Ghana as a platform to enter other international markets.

Ghana, he said, currently housed the headquarters of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and it provided   good opportunity to see the Republic Bank venture into other countries on the continent.

Dr Addison gave the advice during the launch of the Republic Bank head office annex near the Ridge Roundabout, dubbed ‘Republic Court’ in Accra on Friday.

The programme was also used to launch the refurbishment and beautification of the African Union Square, near the Ridge Roundabout, which was financed by the bank.

Dr Addison congratulated the Republic Bank for the construction of the head office annex, saying it attested to the bank’s successful expansion strategy.

 “Since entering the banking sector in Ghana, Republic Bank has distinguished itself as a bank with a mission to implement sound policies and provide personalised, efficient, and competitively priced financial services to the benefit of customers, staff, shareholders and the various communities where its branches are situated,” the Governor, said.

 Dr Addison said BoG would continue to create an enabling environment within which banks can efficiently carry out their role of financial intermediation to accelerate economic growth and development.

He entreated the bank to leverage technology to bring banking financial services to the doorstep of their customers.

Dr Addison said in line with the objective of customer centralism, financial digitisation would shape the banking business to compete with the fintechs in the payment systems space, stressing that “there is the need for adoption and diffusion of technology in every sphere of banking sector operations.”

The Governor entreated the banks to be proactive and strengthen internal risk management frameworks, as well as build a robust and secure digital infrastructure to forestall cybercrime incidences.

“It is also essential that comprehensive and stringent Know Your Customer procedures are implemented to improve banks’ customer acceptance policy. These will help prevent suspicious customers from pursuing fraudulent activities, including money laundering, terrorist financing and credit fraud, through the banking sector,” he said.

The Managing Director of Republic Bank, FaridAntar, said the inauguration of the Headoffice annex demonstrated the bank’s commitment to be in Ghana for the long haul.

He said the bank would continue to partner the governor to achieve economic objectives and to contribute to the development of the Ghanaian society.

“Our long-term vision is to establish an African presence headquarters in Ghana,” MrAntar said.