The Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) has commissioned its 144th branch at the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. Dubbed, ‘Tech-Junction Branch’, the ultra-modern bank is the second at the KNUST; the first one being opened in 1960. Many personalities including the Offinsohene, Nana Wiafe Akenten III, and Oheneba Adusei Poku, Akyempimhene of Kumasi who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, attended the ceremony. Addressing the gathering, a board member of the bank, Franklin Asamoah, noted that when the GCB was established in 1953, its vision was to provide banking services to the people, support local industries and business, and assist in the development of the country’s economy. To fulfill these objectives, the bank quickly opened branches across the length and breadth of the country and had since been committed to providing financial support to agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors of the economy. The board member said millions of cedis had been paid over the years by the bank as dividend to government. According to him, the bank’s contributions to education had graduated from providing banking services to the provision of social amenities and financial assistance towards long term projects in the educational sector. The Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, said GCB was established for Ghanaian entrepreneurs and “is now the largest indigenous bank with 144 banks nationwide”. He said the bank had been referred to as ‘The People’s Bank’ because of its flexibility in transactions and the support it had continued to offer the private sector. Oheneba Adusei Poku, who chaired the function, commended the GCB for constantly contributing to the Otumfuo Education Fund, saying that it had enabled the fund to sponsor about 4,000 students from basic through tertiary institutions. The Akyempimhene said more of such assistance was needed to help needy but brilliant students and hoped GCB would do greater than before. Source: Ghanaian Times