According to the central bank the move is meant to help build a robust post-COVID-19 banking sector.
The Deputy Head of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana, Mr Ismail Adam made the announcement at the UPSA Law School Quarterly Banking Roundtable webinar.
“The idea is to make the institutions more robust and resilient such that they wouldn’t suffer because of the pandemic,” Mr. Adam intimated.
“So, one of the main things we did was to say that we are putting a hold on payment of dividend so that we build enough capital to withstand the shocks that will emanate from the pandemic.”
“But it was not cast in stone,” he added.
“We also said that if you [banks] are meeting certain requirements, as we said, you will be allowed to pay dividend. So, as we speak, [of the] 23 banks that we have, I think eleven of them, which is almost 50%, we have given approval to them to pay some dividend,” he noted.
The Bank of Ghana put a moratorium on the payment of dividends by the commercial banks following the severe impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the economy since mid-March 2020.
The beneficiary banks include Ecobank Ghana, GCB Bank and CAL Bank. They have already paid dividends to their shareholders.