The Managing Director of The Trust Bank (TTB), Mr Isaac Owusu-Hemeng, has said that the bank’s proposed merger with the Merchant Bank is on course and is set to be concluded in December, this year. Mr Owusu-Hemeng told journalists in Accra that the two banks were working on meeting some regulatory and tax related issues to pave the way for the marriage, which could set the tone for many to come ,following the raising of the minimum capital requirements of banks. “The merger process is on course. And all things being equal, it will be completed by the end of the year,” he said. Mr Owusu-Hemeng was interacting with journalists last Tuesday at an awards ceremony for workers of TTB in which Mrs Abena Engmann, the Relationship Manager for Institutional Banking, emerged the overall best worker and received a plaque and GH¢3,000 as her prize. The TTB managing director explained that the merger would not come with any change of name of the banks. He said the management of the two banks were yet to settle on the location of the headquarters and the management arrangements. On performance of TTB, Mr Owusu-Hemeng said, the bank had achieved its target for the first half of the year, despite the global economic slowdown, he declined to be specific but insisted the bank was poised to achieve its target for the year. Mr Owusu-Hemeng commended the awardees for their dedicated service, and urged other workers to emulate them in order to increase productivity. A board member of TTB, Mr B. Abubakar, expressed the hope that the award winners would be motivated more by the awards to offer their best. He also praised all the workers of the bank for performing “considerably well” over the last three years. He urged members to “persist” in the face of the global credit crunch to still emerge the best or among the best banks this year. Mrs Engmann, on behalf of the award winners, thanked the management of the bank for recognising their efforts and thanked her other colleagues for contributing to their success. Mr Rodney Saint Acquaye was the first runner up and received a plaque and GH2,000, with Mr Emmanuel Poku Atta-Saow and Mr Eugene Mesi-Amo, coming up as the second and third runners up respectively. Each person received a plaque with respective cash prizes of GH¢2,000, GH¢1,500 and GH¢1,000.