The President of the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB), Kwamina Asomaning, has called for greater dialogue between the banking sector and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to prevent policy missteps.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, the Managing Director of Stanbic Bank Ghana, stressed the need for more engagement, noting that some directives have been issued without adequate consultation.
“There’s one word that comes to mind – dialogue. We want to have a dialogue with the central bank. Our experience has been that in a few instances, policies or directives have been issued without adequate consultation,” Mr Asomaning stated.
While acknowledging the BoG’s regulatory authority, he emphasized that banks interact with a diverse customer base across multiple sectors and possess valuable insights that could enhance monetary policy.
“We accept the fact that we are regulated institutions. We accept the fact that we cannot dictate how we should be regulated, but we interface with a large number of customers who operate in many sectors of the economy.
“We have a wealth of data, a wealth of relationships, and a wealth of insights. And we feel that monetary policy can benefit from some of the insights that can come through us.”
Mr Asomaning underscored the consequences of policy decisions made without industry input
“It often is the case that when these new policies are released, there are unintended consequences. And we feel very strongly that these unintended consequences can be avoided when proper dialogue is had,” he stated.
He also pointed to challenges in interpreting new regulations, sometimes leaving banking professionals uncertain about their proper application.
“There’s always the issue of interpretation. Oftentimes, these directives come out, and we as professionals even struggle to have a consistent understanding of what the intent is or was.
“It’s a bit of a travesty to have regulation or directives out there, and bankers are scrambling to agree on what the interpretation is.”
For Kwamina Asomaning, fostering continuous engagement between the banking sector and the central bank will lead to a more effective and balanced regulatory environment.
“We feel that if we can have a much closer dialogue at all levels, that should lead to a much more effective relationship between the two of us.”
