The Bank has achieved significant milestones, including building cutting-edge technology platforms, impactful lending and achieving leadership in SME finance.

Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG), an indigenous Ghanaian Universal Bank was licensed by Bank of Ghana under the Specialized Deposit – Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930). The setting up of the bank came about when in September 2017, the Bank of Ghana directed all universal banks in Ghana to raise their minimum capital reserves from GHS 120 million (US$22.8 million) to GHS 400 million (US$73.4 million). Five banks, namely Construction Bank, The Beige Bank, The Royal Bank, UniBank and the Sovereign Bank, failed to meet the minimum requirements. They had also committed regulatory breaches that made it impossible for them to operate as banking institutions. The assets and selected liabilities of these banks were, therefore, merged to form the Consolidated Bank.

The Bank started operations on August 1, 2018, and has its Corporate Head Office located in Accra. It has 114 branches across 13 regions in Ghana.

At a Press briefing on Tuesday, 16^th January, 2024, to recount their 5 year success story,  the Managing Director, Daniel Wilson Addo, told the media that the bank had to work very hard to build the trust of its publics and reverse the negative perceptions that had been carried over from the merged banks. The hard work yielded good results and today, the bank stands tall.

The Managing Director said that from 2019 to 2023, the bank's total assets grew from GHS 6.9 billion to GHS 13.8 billion with customer deposits growing from GHS 5.1 billion to GHS 10.4 billion and loans from GHS 228 million to GHS 1.9billion  - a clear indication of a bank doing well despite the economic challenges.

He noted that the bank had made a lot of impact on State-Owned Enterprises as well as Small and Medium scaled Enterprises. He said that 142 million dollars had gone out as trade support to government agencies and 145 million cedi loans had been given out to support hotels. Mr Addo said that the Electricity Company of Ghana had also benefited from a one billion cedi loan, while a few other establishments had also benefited from various amounts of money from the Bank.

These initiatives in the SME sector, earned the bank various awards including the Euromoney Award for SME Market Leadership in 2022 and 2023.

Mr Addo said that CBG had played a pivotal role, providing GHS 1.6 billion in loans to over 5,600 businesses with no colateral. He informed the media that a dedicated one-stop SME centre had been set up, where SMEs can go for advisory services, etc.

He said that the Bank had also introduced innovative programmes such as the CBG SME Adesua series and optimised loan processing for swift access. Over the last two years,  CBG has worked with one of the Telcos to disburse micro loans of about 208 million cedis to 463,000 customers.

In the Corporate and Institutional banking segment, Mr Addo expressed delight that CBG had participated in loans totalling GHS 2.35 billion, either as lead arranger or transaction advisor, benefiting crucial sectors like energy, tourism and agriculture.

The Bank's commitment to community impact is evident through various CSR initiatives, focusing largely on health and education, the MD added. He noted that some health facilities, thanks to the Bank, had seen some renovations. Some educational facilities were said to have benefited from health posts put up by the Bank while some needy students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) had also gotten laptops through the initiatives of the Bank.

To position the Bank for further growth and restore balance sheet resilience, Mr Addo announced that the Bank had recently been provided with GHS 2.5 billion Ghana cedis in capital, by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Ghana. The Bank, Mr Addo noted, is, therefore, solvent and liquid to discharge its core mandate of financial intermediation without any challenges. It is thus, ideally positioned to continue its growth trajectory and make a positive impact on the economy.

The Bank will, in the immediate future, deepen investment in digitisation, upscale support to SMEs, further prioritise customer service as well as operational efficiency and do a lot in the agricultural sector, also, said Mr Addo.

The overriding ambition of the Bank, is to build market leadership in SME financing while building a resilient institution.