Ecobank Ghana has met the Bank of Ghana GHS400 Minimum Capital Requirement (MCR) ahead of the 31 December 2018 deadline.

In August 2017, the Bank of Ghana raised the MCR from GHS120 million to GHS400 million and gave all commercial banks up to the end of 2018 to meet the new requirement or risk having their licences revoked or downgraded to savings and loans companies.

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In July 2018, the BoG Governor Dr Ernest Addison said that 6 banks have net the MCR. He added that 2 others were almost there.

Addressing a press conference in Accra after the 83rd Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the BoG, Dr Addison said about 15 banks would meet the requirement by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, 7 local banks have their licences revoked since the central bank announced the new MCR.

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UT Bank and Capital Bank were the first casualties. BoG gave its approval for GCB Bank to purchase both banks after experiencing what the BoG described as “irredeemable” liquidity challenges in August 2017.

On August 1, 2018, the BoG also announced the merger of 5 local banks into a totally new entity called the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited.

The banks are uniBank, The Beige Bank, The Construction Bank, The Royal Bank and Sovereign Bank.