Sovereign Bank facing governance and capitalization challenges – BoG  

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has explained it was forced to appoint an advisor for Sovereign Bank Limited due to some governance and capitalization challenges faced by the universal bank in the country. BoG said though it has since April this year appointed advisor for Sovereign Bank, it did not publish the notice of such appointment as it was done as part of its normal supervisory routine Sovereign Bank was issued with licensed in January 2016. BoG as part of its supervisory functions, conducted an on-site examination of the bank in December 2017. “The outcome of the on-site examination revealed some governance and capitalization challenges which needed to be addressed,” the statement said. A statement issued by BoG Friday said objective of appointing an advisor for the bank, is “to help monitor the bank’s recapitalization efforts and implementation of governance reforms agreed with the central bank”. It said  the rights of an advisor  as is the case with Sovereign Bank  is different from that of the role of an administrator as is the case with Unibank,  where KPMG was appointed an administrator. “It is important to note that an advisor, unlike an official administrator, does not take over the powers, responsibilities, and duties of the bank’s shareholders, directors, or management. Under Act 930, the Advisor may attend meetings of the Board of Directors without voting at such meetings” it explained. BoG expressed its commitment to promoting a strong and resilient banking sector and assured customers of the bank the safety of their deposits. By P.D Wedam|3news.com|Ghana]]>