Nana Kwame Bediako’s claim there is no Ghanaian-owned bank false

Leader of the New Force Movement, Nana Kwame Bediako, also known as Cheddar, has said there’s no Ghanaian-owned bank.

He made the claim on TV3’s NewDay programme on March 25, 2024, when discussing his visit to the Northern and Middle belts of the country in a regional tour he dubbed, “The Listening Tour.”

During the show, Nana Kwame Bediako lamented that there is an increasing cost of living as a result of the current economic conditions which he considered a downturn. According to him, the ‘downturn’ has affected the banking sector and therefore there are no Ghanaian-owned banks due to the state of the economy.

Fact-Check Ghana has verified the claim and presents the findings below.

Claim: “If you look today, I don’t think we have a Ghanaian-owned bank.”

Verdict: False

Explanation:

To verify this claim, Fact-Check Ghana conducted a comprehensive review of all the banks operating in Ghana and their ownership, particularly focusing on commercial banks.

The team found that, as of April 2024, there are 23 registered commercial banks operating in Ghana. Among these, nine are owned by Ghanaian institutions, while the remaining 14 are foreign-owned. Out of the nine Ghanaian-owned banks, five are state-owned entities.

The team’s verification revealed that Universal Merchant Bank, Prudential Bank Limited, OmniBSIC Bank Ghana Limited, and Fidelity Bank are owned by Ghanaian individuals.

This information is corroborated by a statement issued by the Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC) in 2021, which discussed the limitations facing Ghanaian banks in establishing international branches.

“This implies that the solely private Ghanaian-owned banks are Universal Merchant Bank, Prudential Bank Limited, OmniBSIC Bank Ghana Limited, and Fidelity Bank,” part of the statement read.

From the above, Nana Kwame Bediako’s claim that there are no Ghanaian-owned banks is false.