The Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) has rejected media reports suggesting that banks in the country are currently at risk of insolvency due to the Domestic Debt Exchange programme (DDE).

GAB says such reportage is untrue and published with malicious intentions. 

In a press statement issued on Saturday, March 25, the Association urged the public to disregard same.

“Our attention has been drawn to media publication by The Africa Report on the subject matter above. 

“We wish to draw the attention of the general public that the report is not only false in its entirety, it is malicious and published without any factual foundation,” excerpts of the statement said. 

The statement noted that rather, banks have proved fairly resilient after the exercise. 

“While participating in the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) by the banking industry in the national interest resulted in impairment losses on banks’ holding of Government of Ghana bonds, as indicated in the recent Bank of Ghana (BoG) MPC report, the banking industry is fairly resilient.”

According to the Ghana Association of Banks, the banks have continued to grow their costumer base amidst the programme. 

It is important to note that the core business of banks remains strong, they have continued to grow their customer base and expand their services during this period of the DDE. 

The banking industry as a whole has robust risk management and contingency planning framework which have made it possible to navigate the current economic environment and maintain financial stability and viability.