UT Bank says will expand lending to SMEs

UT Bank said on Wednesday that it would leverage its partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to boost financial support for Small and medium enterprises.

“We will leverage on our partnership with the IFC, through its technical assistance programme to improve service delivery and provide further training assistance to our clients,” Captain (Rtd) Prince Kofi Amoabeng, Chief Executive of UT Bank said at the Annual General Meeting.

UT Bank, IFC and the Africa Capitalisation Fund Ltd, which is managed by the IFC Asset Management Company Ltd, signed a $15 million joint equity investment last year to help expand lending to SMEs.

Mr Amoabeng said to ensure a deeper reach into the informal sector; the bank would be making substantial investments in broadening alternate distribution networks, including a mobile banking platform to be completed in the first quarter of 2013.

Mr Amoabeng explained that the branchless module would provide the platform for the implementation of branchless and agency banking to enable the bank to reach its targeted customers.

The bank, he said, would also introduce innovations such as banking on wheels, a mobile bank branch this year.

Mr Amoabeng said UT Bank would strengthen its balance sheet by attracting cheap deposits and diversifying its funding mix, adding that, investment in technology was critical in achieving the targeted deposit growth.

He said the Bank was also mindful of the challenges in the banking environment and believed that its strategies had positioned it for strong, stable and sustainable returns for shareholders.

The bank’s profit before tax was up by 54.4 percent reaching GH¢27 million compared with GH¢17 million in 2011.

Source: GNA