The figure declined from 11.6 percent as at end of February 2017 to 11.2 percent as at end of March; the latest Annual Percentage Rates (APR) and Average Interest (AI) report by the BoG has shown. According to the report, Access Bank offers the highest interest rates on customer deposits as at end of March this year.

Customers’ deposits at the bank attracted interest rate of 16.4 percent. But Standard Chartered Bank however remained as the bank with the lowest interest on customer deposits for the same period.

Its rate on customer deposits is at 3.4 percent.

This is a further drop from the 6.04 percent it recorded in February 2017.

Thirty-one banks were surveyed in the report the publication of which the central bank is to promote transparency in the pricing and provision of banking services.

According to the report, Access Bank is immediately followed by Omni Bank in the second position with 16.0 percent.

Bank of Baroda and the Royal Bank come in with the third and fourth highest rates on customer deposits at 15.5 percent and 14.9 percent respectively.

This is followed closely by Capital Bank and Stanbic Bank occupying the 5th positions with their interests at 14.1 percent each.

At the 6th, 7th and 8th positions are UBA, Bank of Africa, and GN Bank with interests on deposits at 13.6, 13.4 and 13.2 percent in that order.

Also, with 12.9, 12.8, 12.6 and 12.0 percent, Sovereign Bank, First Atlantic Bank, Unibank Bank and UT Bank placed 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th positions respectively.

Also, Zenith Bank, Sahel Sahara Bank, HFC, NIB Bank and First National Bank occupied the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th slots with interests on customer deposits at 11.7, 11.6, 11.4 and 11.1 percent respectively.

Prudential Bank and Universal Merchant Bank occupy the 17th position with 10.9 percent.

From the bottom however, Standard Chartered Bank offers the lowest rates on your deposits.

It places 28th with 3.4 percent.

It is immediately preceded by Energy Bank and ADB at 27th and 26th positions with 6.1 and 6.2 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, Fidelity Bank, GT Bank, GCB Bank and Cal Bank come in at 25th, 24th, 23rd and 22nd positions with interest rates on customer deposits at 6.9, 7.4, 8.3 and 9.0 percent respectively.

The 21st, 20th, 19th and 18th positions are occupied by Ecobank, SG Bank, FBN- Ghana and Barclays Bank with 9.2 percent, 9.7 percent, 10.3 and 10.4 percent in that order.

The banking industry also recorded GH¢83.6 billion total assets as of the end of February 2017, up from GH¢81.9 billion recorded in January, representing 33.5 percent annual growth.

Total gross advances were GH¢36 billion, which constituted 19.1 percent of growth.

Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio of the banking system, as at the end of February 2017, was 17.7 percent, down from 18 percent recorded in January 2017 while capital adequacy ratio for the banking industry was 18.5 percent, up from 17.8 percent recorded in January 2017.

The immediate-past Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Abdul Nashiru Issahaku, who was speaking at the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press briefing in Accra recently said, “As government continues to honour its commitment to pay down the restructured energy-related SOEs debts, it is expected that banks’ non-performing loans will decline, with positive implications on the solvency of banks in the coming months.”

Dr. Issahaku said the Bank’s updated Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) recorded an uptick in year-on-year terms.

He said the increase was driven mainly by exports, port activities and private sector credit growth, adding that the consumer and business confidence indices reflected positive sentiments about economic and industry prospects.

source: daily guide