He said the Bank’s Group Office in Nigeria had agreed to provide the amount to adequately capitalise the bank in preparation towards the move by the Bank of Ghana to increase  the Minimum Capital Requirement which currently stands at GH¢120 million.

Speaking at the bank’s turn at the Facts-Behind-the-Figures programme at the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) in Accra on Tuesday, to highlight on the half-year performance of the bank,  he said the bank  had raised GH¢29 million from its Initial Public Offer and was expecting additional GH¢100 million from the IPO.

Touching on the half year performance, the Managing Director said the bank’s growth trajectory had been consistent since inception.

He said assets of the bank increased by five per cent from GH¢2.7 million in June 2016 to GH¢2.8 million in June 2017.

The growth in assets, Mr Ogundimu said was mainly supported by a growth in deposits which were invested in relatively high yielding assets.

The Managing Director said shareholders fund increased by seven per cent by GH¢456,000 in June 2016 to GH¢459,000 in June 2017.

Mr Ogundimu however, said the bank’s profit declined from GH¢39.5 million in June 2016 to GH¢28.2 million in June 2017 due to high impairment cost as a result of the opening of new branches.

He said Non Performing Loans had declined from 25.7 per cent in 2016 to 20 per cent for the first half of this year and was projected to reduce to 15 per cent by the end of the year.

On the outlook for the bank for the next half year, Mr Ogundimu said management was working to reduce cost of operation.

To this end, the Managing Director said the bank was moving away from ‘brick and mortar’ banking to digital banking to bring banking to the doorstep of customers.

Mr Ogundimu said the bank would also be cautious in growing its loan book and assets and would pursue opportunistic asset growth.

The Managing Director said government has paid GH¢30 million out of the GH¢180 million it owed the bank, leaving GH¢150 million.

He said, he was optimistic the government would settle the energy sector debts before the end of the year, saying the payment of the debt would help provide financial resources to the bank to lend to the private sector.

He said the bank which currently has 51 branches, would continue to increase its footprints across the country both physically and digitally and develop innovative products to meet the needs of customers.

“The vision is to position the bank as the best choice and leading financial services provider in the country,” he said.

The Managing Director for the GSE, Kofi Yamoah lauded management of the bank for explaining the position of the bank to shareholders and players on the stock market.