Savings and Loans Company, First Capital Plus, has finally began full  commercial banking operations.

The company  on December 4 changed its name  to First Capital Plus Bank because of its new status . This follows a go ahead from the Bank of Ghana in September  to operate as a  Universal Bank. 

This also means Ffirst Capital would no longer route some transactions through  other  banks, while their customers would also  be able carryout some international transactions through the bank.

Chief Executive of the bank, John Kofi Mensah, told JOYBUSINESS they would give a lot of priority to small businesses.

He also adds that they plan to change the banking landscape with their product offering and services.

The bank says a year after they were granted the Savings and Loans license, it had a deposit  base of GH¢ 36.06 million and total asset size of GH¢ 47.18 million as at December, 2010.

First Capital Plus currently commands a deposit base of GH¢211.11 million and total assets of GH¢286.80million. 

Recent figures from Bank of Ghana indicated that First Capital commanded 16% of the advances of savings and loans companies and 19% of the sector total assets.

The Bank currently employs 355 and has 15 branches covering five regions.

First Capital Plus has chalked some modest achievements and the year 2012/2013 has been classified by the company as the year of divine acceleration.

In September, 2013 the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana adjudged the company as the non-bank financial institution of the year 2012 for the company’s orientation to marketing & technological innovation, investment in Corporate Social Responsibility and strong financial performance.

Just the following month in October, 2013, First Capital Plus was also awarded as the 10th best performing company for the year 2012 and the best in the Non-Bank Financial Institutions sector at the prestigious Ghana Club 100 (GC100) Awards organized by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC).

The Managing Director of the bank noted that as a bank the SME sector will continue to be our core target segment.

"What the Universal Banking status offers us is an opportunity to offer more tailor-made products to the growing needs of the SME market with solutions we were hitherto legally constrained from directly providing", he said.

First Capital Plus' new status brings  the total number of commercial banks  in the country to 27.