Managing Director of GCB Bank, John Kofi Adomakoh is promising a leadership that will transform the bank as the dominant player in the Ghanaian banking industry.

 “We have what it takes and we have the capacity; it requires leadership and that is the leadership I seek to bring through GCB Bank to drive this agenda.  Over and above that, I think we need to reposition ourselves [GCB Bank} as to how we select some government initiatives and see how we implement them, how we support government to implement some of their initiatives; around manufacturing, value addition, exports driven market. I think this is the role a bank like GCB must lead, Mr. Adomakoh told Joy Business Odelia Ntiamoah in an exclusive interview.

To this end, Mr. Adomakoh said “we are drawing on the bank’s relationship internally and partnerships and also externally with international finance institutions and with capacity building agencies to help drive this agenda. With support from government, we are pulling all of these agencies together to come up with a model that works, that is transparent, that has the right corporate governance and that will seek to see the private sector growing.”

He further said Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) should be harnessed and supported to graduate into large corporates, whilst the large corporates should dominate the West African market and ultimately Africa.

GCB’s strategy hinges on 3 pillars

The bank’s strategy going forward hinges on three pillars.

The pillars are; Revenue Growth and Profitability, Operational Resilience as well as Talent and Culture.

Mr. Adomakoh said the strategy is due to the constantly changing business environment and disruptions across many fronts. This calls for the business strategy to be relevant and well-positioned to proactively meet the needs and expectations of its clients, a decision that will generate sustainable profits and returns.

“These are the three focal areas our strategy is built on. More importantly, as a bank…you must know that GCB is not just a bank, we are a national bank, we are a catalyst for development in this country. If you look beyond our numbers, if you look at the performance of 2020 and you look beyond the financials, you will see the contribution we have made to this nation through socio economic development- and we see ourselves as a catalyst to that.”

Mr. Adomakoh said his outfit is poised to reposition itself as the most dominant bank in the country to deliver commitment in service, in value to customers, to grow indigenous Ghanaian businesses.

“We need to spend time developing our private sector and and business community. We need to develop not only providing them with financing but developed them with capacity and governance etc. No country has developed significantly without the development of the private sector and it is only banks like GCB that have the capacity to develop the Ghanaian private sector”, he added.

GCB to revolutionize digital banking

The Managing Director said GCB Bank will strategize to become the dominant digital banking player in the country, commending the past administration for the work done in developing technology.

“Management, staff, the board over the last years have invested heavily a lot in technology. They have develop innovations and they have done quite a lot in terms of that. I think our clients have realized that over the last few years, in terms of technology, GCB Bank is transforming in getting into the digital space. GCB is moving from the traditional bank into a more contemporary.”

“And I think that the investment the bank has made over the last couple of years has been worthy. This digitization journey takes some time, I know where GCB is coming from. But I think we are on the right track, I think we are well pluck into the journey; we have invested in automating our front office, we invested heavily in our back house, we’ve tried to develop digital platforms to our customers so they can work from home, our customers can access the bank from anywhere.”

He concluded saying “the covid-19 pandemic was a real test and I’m happy to say the bank really excelled in terms of using the digital platforms. I think it is a journey, I don’t think we are there yet, but I think we are on the right track.”

The vision of GCB Bank is “to be the leading bank in all our markets”, whilst its mission is to provide first class banking solutions for our customers and value for all stakeholders.