Eight banks accounted for 67% of the banking industry exposure to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

This confirmed Joy Business story in November 2023 that eight banks were highly exposed to the Government of Ghana bonds.

According to the 2023 Ghana Banking Survey by accounting professional, PwC, 72% of the impairment charge in 2022 were attributed to these banks.

GCB, Consolidated Bank Ghana, Ecobank Bank Ghana and Absa Bank Ghana recorded the highest impairment charges of ¢1.81 billion, ¢1.77 billion, ¢1.62 billion and ¢1.61 billion respectively.

However, the banks most impacted by impairment charge as a proportion of their investment securities portfolio were CalBank, Prudential Bank, Zenith Bank and First National Bank.

The banks that were least impacted by the DDEP included FBN Ghana and Societe Generale.

With the terms for the restructure of dollar denominated securities yet to be finalised, the report said it will be interesting to assess the adequacy of the credit losses estimated by banks once the terms are finalised for exchange.

The DDEP, coupled with the downgrade of the Government of Ghana’s credit rating by rating agencies swung the industry into an unprecedented loss.

This resulted in the erosion of the industry’s asset base by ¢15.7 billion through the recognition of impairment charges on government securities.