By Elorm DESEWU
About a month from now BPI Bank, which is now 51% owned by UT Holdings which is also the majority shareholder of UT Financial Services will be rebranded as UT Bank.
This is a major step in the transformation of the bank by its new majority shareholders from a hitherto underperforming bank into one which is expected to compete with the leaders in Ghana’s banking industry, in terms of product quality, customer care, excellence and strong financial performance.
The bank is also set to roll out new products as well as extend its branch network in the country.
UT Holdings purchased its majority equity stake in BPI Bank from Hopeco Ventures, a part of Business Focus, a huge Malaysian conglomerate which was hitherto the majority shareholder in the bank. Hopeco’s equity stake in BPI Bank has now been whittled down to 42%. The other 7% is owned by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and some other Ghanaian shareholders.
Although SSNIT and those other Ghanaian minority shareholders have indicated their intentions to sell their shares, it is still uncertain whether UT Holdings wishes to further increase its stake by buying them.
The acquisition of BPI Bank by UT Holdings portends a major positive change for a 13 year old bank which is still the smallest in Ghana in terms of total assets (2007: Gh¢29.066 million) despite being much older than the eight other new generation universal banks which opened business over the past few years.
However, by the end of 2007, the bank ranked above two other banks in terms of both loan and investment portfolio size although it still had the smallest deposit base of Gh¢20.089 million as at the end of 2007.
About a month from now BPI Bank, which is now 51% owned by UT Holdings which is also the majority shareholder of UT Financial Services will be rebranded as UT Bank.
This is a major step in the transformation of the bank by its new majority shareholders from a hitherto underperforming bank into one which is expected to compete with the leaders in Ghana’s banking industry, in terms of product quality, customer care, excellence and strong financial performance.
The bank is also set to roll out new products as well as extend its branch network in the country.
UT Holdings purchased its majority equity stake in BPI Bank from Hopeco Ventures, a part of Business Focus, a huge Malaysian conglomerate which was hitherto the majority shareholder in the bank. Hopeco’s equity stake in BPI Bank has now been whittled down to 42%. The other 7% is owned by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and some other Ghanaian shareholders.
Although SSNIT and those other Ghanaian minority shareholders have indicated their intentions to sell their shares, it is still uncertain whether UT Holdings wishes to further increase its stake by buying them.
The acquisition of BPI Bank by UT Holdings portends a major positive change for a 13 year old bank which is still the smallest in Ghana in terms of total assets (2007: Gh¢29.066 million) despite being much older than the eight other new generation universal banks which opened business over the past few years.
However, by the end of 2007, the bank ranked above two other banks in terms of both loan and investment portfolio size although it still had the smallest deposit base of Gh¢20.089 million as at the end of 2007.
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