I S S U E 2 2 • A P R I L 2 0 2 1 THE DARFIN WEEKLY The latest from the world of Finance You are richer than you think! The concept of compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. Shape your future with the right financial plan, as good advice goes a long way. Speak to Darfin Finance about your personal finances or your business finances. We offer attractive and realistic rates for Fixed/Term Deposits Accounts, Call Accounts, and Plan Investments Accounts for Projects; Educational Needs and for your Retirement needs. Call us on 055 822 9858 (cell and WhatsApp) or 0302 201 702, or visit us at www. darfinfinance.com, or locate our offices adjacent to the Tesano Baptist Church, 2/31 Nsawam Circle Road, or email us at [email protected] You could be richer than you think.! G H A N A R E A D Y T O B E T H E D A R F I N W E E K L Y T A K E N O F F E U A M L B L A C K L I S T – B O G I N T H I S S O U R C E : B & F T E D I T I O N The Head, Financial Stability at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Joseph France, has disclosed that all is set Ghana ready to be taken off EU AML for Ghana to be removed from the European Union’s blacklist – BoG (EUs) list of countries with high levels of deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Mechanical Lloyd to delist from Terrorist Financing (CTF) regimes. This comes after the GSE on 16th April European Commission (EC) in May of 2020, placed Ghana on its ‘grey list of third countries,’ suggesting Foreign banks profits exceed local that lapses in the country’s AML and CFT regimes have banks by 185% in pandemic year resulted in the nation posing significant threats to the European Union’s financial system. Dr. Joseph France Britain to look closer at creating has however stated that all necessary requirements have been met in addressing deficiencies in its AML digital currency and CTF regimes. Pg. 1 A L L I A N Z I N S U R A N C E F O R E I G N B A N K S A N D U B A F O R G E P R O F I T S E X C E E D B A N C A S S U R A N C E L O C A L B A N K S B Y 1 8 5 % P A R T N E R S H I P I N P A N D E M I C Y E A R S O U R C E : B & F T S O U R C E : B F & T Allianz Insurance, a subsidiary of global insurance giant Allianz Group, has announced a partnership Annual financial reports posted by commercial with UBA Ghana to drive an innovative banks in the country, indicate that foreign-owned bancassurance strategy. Through the partnership, banks have made profits in excess of 185.5 over 20 branches of UBA spread across the percent in 2020 compared to that made by country will offer customers personal insurance indigenous banks, a development banking products which include Motor Insurance, Home consultant, Dr. Richmond Atuahene, attributes to Insurance and Travel Insurance, along with other good corporate governance structures of the financial services in a convenient manner. foreign banks. Despite initial fears of the global pandemic impacting negatively on banks’ profits, figures from 19 banks (out of overall 23) which have posted their financials at the March deadline L O C A L F I N A N C I A L show profit for the year (2020) of the industry hit I N S T I T U T I O N S A S S I S T more than GH¢4 billion(GH¢2.97 billion came from the 13 foreign-owned banks) compared to G O V ’ T T O GH¢3.3 billion recorded for all 23 banks in 2019 S U C C E S S F U L L Y when there was no pandemic. E X E C U T E 2 0 2 1 M E C H A N I C A L L L O Y D T O E U R O B O N D S O U R C E : B F & T D E L I S T F R O M G S E O N T R A N S A C T I O N 1 6 T H A P R I L Five local financial institutions acting as co-managers have successfully supported the Government of S O U R C E : M Y J O Y O N L I N E Ghana to raise US$3.025billion in the Eurobond market. The transaction, which was oversubscribed Mechanical Lloyd has announced its delisting from included a novel zero-coupon bond, the first of its the Ghana Stock Exchange, effective Friday 16th kind by an emerging markets issuer. The contribution April, 2021. Already, 165 shareholders have of the local institutions towards the success of this year’s transaction is a clear indication of the country’s tendered in a total of 2.8 million ordinary shares. To banking sector growth and the government’s mission this end, a settlement to all applicants was to build the capacity of local institutions. The local concluded on 8th April 2021 per the offer co-managers of the transaction were Fidelity Bank timetable. GH3,920 has also been transferred to Ghana Limited, CalBank PLC, Databank Brokerage the Universal Merchant Bank account as total Limited, IC Securities (Ghana) Limited and Temple regulatory levies payable. The company offered to Investments Limited. Their contribution included purchase the outstanding shares at 10 pesewas per working with the joint lead managers to develop the share, representing a premium of 11.1%. investor presentation, to fashion the liability Shareholders of the automobile approved the management strategy and to coordinate the logistics delisting of the company from the Ghana Stock for the first ever virtual roadshow out of Accra as well Exchange in October last year. as aggregating significant domestic demand for all tranches of the Eurobond. Pg. 2 S T O P C H A S I N G E X T R E M E R E T U R N S ; 1 0 % M O N T H L Y I N T E R E S T I S U N S U S T A I N A B L E – D R A G L O Y O R S O U R C E : M Y J O Y O N L I N E A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr Elikplimi Komla Agloyor has warned Ghanaian investors to resist investing in portfolios that offer extreme returns. According to him, extreme returns come with extreme risks which lure investors into schemes where they risk losing their entire investment. He explained that as Treasury bills currently offer 17% interest yearly, any debt instrument that offers more than 50% return on investment has very high risks which investors must avoid. Similarly, he said, any money market product promising more than 30% return on investment annually should not be patronized by investors. R E M E M B E R T O W A S H Y O U R H A N D S R E G U L A R L Y W I T H S O A P U N D E R R U N N I N G W A T E R . O B S E R V E A L L S O C I A L D I S T A N C I N G P R O T O C O L S A N D S T A Y S A F E ! # M A S K U P Pg. 3 I N T E R N A T I O N A L N E W S B R I T A I N T O L O O K B A N K C E O S T O T E S T I F Y C L O S E R A T C R E A T I N G A S U . S . C O N G R E S S D I G I T A L C U R R E N C Y R A M P S U P S C R U T I N Y O F S O U R C E : R E U T E R S W A L L S T R E E T S O U R C E : R E U T E R S Britain stepped up efforts on Monday to look at the case for a digital pound in response to the The U.S. Congress will hold hearings next month with the chief executives of major Wall Street banks challenge posed by cryptocurrencies such as as Democratic lawmakers step up scrutiny of the bitcoin, and outlined plans to make its financial role lenders have played in helping struggling market more attractive after Brexit. Britain's Americans recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.