A total of 79,364 assets were registered as collateral by Banks and Specialised Deposit Taking Institutions in the first quarter of 2023, up from the 76,142 assets registered in quarter one of 2022.

According to the First Quarter Report of Collateral Registration published by the Bank of Ghana, movable assets constituted the largest proportion of the registered collateral for loans granted within the reporting period with a share of 64.2%.

Immovable collateral constituted the lowest proportion of registered collateral for loans granted within the reporting period with a 2.2% share.

Both Immovable and Movable (for example Company/Business Assets) collateral accounted for 33.6% of the total number of collaterals registered. The major collateral type used to secure loans was cash and inventories/stock of goods.

Savings & Loans firms highest recipients of Memo of No Objection

A total of 103 realisation requests were received from various lending institutions, out of which 79 Memoranda of No Objection certificates were issued in Q1 2023 to facilitate enforcement of collateral registered. This represents a year-on-year decline of 32.5%, compared with 117 certificates issued in the same period in 202 2.

Savings and Loans companies were the highest recipients of the Memorandum of No Objection certificates with 48 approved realisation requests, representing 60.8% of the total number of approved realisation requests.

This was followed by banks, the second largest recipients of the Memorandum of No Objection certificates with 20 approved realisation requests, representing 25.3 percent of approved requests

Commerce and Finance sector accounted for 32.8% of secured credit

The Commerce and Finance sector accounted for 32.8%, representing the highest share of secured credit received across the sectors in quarter one, 2023.

The Services sector followed with a 27.2% share, Mining and Quarrying sector with 8.4% share, the Manufacturing sector with a 7.9% share and the Electricity, Gas and Water sector with a share of 7.6 %.

The lowest categories of recipients of secured loans were the Construction sector (5.4%), Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector ( 3.6%), Transport and Haulage sector ( 0 . 8%), Cottage Industries sector (0.1%) and Information & Communications (0.0 2%).