Calbank secures ‘renewed mandate’ after raising GH¢900m

By Kingsley Webora TANKEH

The Managing Director of Calbank, Carl Selasi Asem has indicated that the wholly Ghanaian bank has secured a “renewed mandate,” after raising GH¢900 million at the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

According to him, the capital injection is a vote of public confidence in the bank’s operations, post-DDEP resilience and future vision. He therefore vowed to utilise the capital to transform the indigenous bank to compete with multinationals in the sector. “The investors have given us the new mandate to be able to transform this bank to greater heights. Our dream is very clear. We want an indigenous bank to compete with the multinationals,” he emphasized.

The capital injection, which Mr Asem revealed was oversubscribed, marked the culmination of a three-year effort to rebuild the bank, following the reverberations of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). “The success and the over-subscription gave us the renewed confidence that whatever we have done in the last three years is in the right direction,” Mr Asem told journalist at an event at the GSE to commemorate Calbank’s successful GH¢900 million rights issue and private market placement.

Having secured adequate capital for the bank’s operations, Mr Asem noted that the bank will now shift from a post-DDEP recovery posture to an aggressive growth strategy centred on digital transformation, providing unmatched support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). “We understand the economy better, we know this better, we think that we’ve been a major lever for what the government wants to achieve and the citizens of this country want to achieve,” he explained.

He further explained that the last three years were deliberately focused on “building up the trust, building up a strong foundation and growing our profit, especially coming out of the DDEP.”

Having solidified that base, Mr Asem said the bank aims to undertake a major leap: a comprehensive digital overhaul and sustained commitment to the SME and retail sectors financing, which he said are not just a business line, but a national economic imperative. “Funding for us is a critical component of our strategy.

This is how indigenous banks will be able to help the economy to thrive,” he stated, revealing that “roughly about 60-70 percent of our portfolio” is directed towards private sector-led economic growth.

“Without that, they can’t be a bank. We really need to provide that support,” he asserted, positioning Calbank as the go to for SME funding.

Mr Asem pledged to deliver returns on the renewed faith in the bank to shareholders. “We will not disappoint them of the confidence they have in us. And we will definitely let their bank that they own grow to greater heights,” he assured, whilst promising more accessible and superior services for customers. “The customers should expect a better service. We will be there for them to support them,” Mr Asem said.

Concluding, he outlined an ambitious 2026-and-beyond roadmap, declaring that, “What we want to tell the market is that an indigenous bank has rebelled, stronger and [is] able to meet their needs.”

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