Express Capital, wholly owned Ghanaian microfinance institution, says it supports moves by the Bank of Ghana to further increase minimum capital required to operate.

Speaking to Joy Business at the opening of its second branch in Tema, Managing Direcor of Express Capital, Ben Adu-Owusu, said the moves by the central bank would ensure that only institution with the adequate capacity to respond to clients’ needs take up the growing market space.

The Bank of Ghana announced a few months ago it may consider raising the minimum capital requirement for microfinance institutions in a bid to sanitise a sector plagued by several challenges.

The Central Bank in 2012 revised the regulatory capital requirement for MFIs to at least GH¢500,000 for companies with one branch, while additional branches are subjected to further capitalisation.

Raymond Amanfu, head of the BoG's Other Financial Institutions Supervisory Department, speaking at a microfinance forum in Accra, said the revision of the capital requirement in 2012 has made regulation of the sector less cumbersome.

The central bank has been battling cases of dubious MFIs operating in the sector.

Ben Adu-Owusu noted: “We want to have serious people in the business…so if we can clean it up to make sure that the people who are in there are really players and working hard.”

 Mr. Adu-Owusu also revealed that Express Capital is working towards become a savings a loans company by next year as part of efforts to position the firm as a complete financial institution.

[Published by GN]