The Independent newspaper says it has uncovered a clandestine move by the management of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and the union of the bank to clinch a deal with a Holland-based bank while it was still protesting attempts by the Stanbic Bank to partner it. “According to our sources at ADB, the union and a section of the management are opposed to Stanbic's partnership with the bank, and are alleged to be having secret meetings with a Dutch bank, Raboban, with the intention of off-loading to it rather than Stanbic, the 48% shares that belong to the Bank of Ghana. But The Independent says, this could be likened to giving Stanbic a raw deal, since it has been extremely difficult for it to hold any meeting with the management and the union of ADB as a result of public outcry against its (Stanbic) decision to buy into the ADB. Another bank that has openly expressed interest to also partner ADB is the Ghana-based Merchant Bank, which has also not have it easy coming to the deal let alone making moves to clinch it. “Meanwhile, information available to The Independent indicate that, Stanbic, which also has interest in the 48% shares of the Bank of Ghana in ADB, is the biggest bank in Africa in terms of total assets, and sees agriculture as the main stay of almost all African economies.” The paper said there are indications that Stanbic, on that basis, has accrued expertise in the fields of agri-business and agro-financing. According to its proposals, Stanbic rather goes further in respect of financing agriculture by looking at the value chain, that is, from the time the farmer conceives the idea to go into farming till the product is consumed or utilized. The proposal on the Stanbic's bid is structured on a process which is to be managed well such that, there is the maximization of returns, bearing in mind that, the agriculture sector employs about 60% of the Ghanaian population. The proposal took cognizance of the fact that ADB is already in the business of financing farmers, but there are nevertheless complaints from farmers that their expectations are not being met due largely to lack of funds in some cases. The Independent learnt during investigations that Stanbic, which has a huge capital base, believes that ADB has the professional knowledge, and Stanbic, in forming a partnership with it, will bring to the agriculture finance front, its solid financial muscle and expertise and core competences that it has perfected in other markets, together they could take agriculture in Ghana to higher levels. The paper said Stanbic's move to partner ADB stems from the official announcement in last year's budget to the effect that government was going to rationalize its shareholding in the financial sector. This convinced Stanbic to come out with the proposal with the view to working together with ADB to change the image of agriculture in the country. In its proposal, Stanbic states that, when government announced it would off-load its shares in certain financial institutions, it (Stanbic) decided to put in an unsolicited bid for the central bank's shares in ADB. According to the paper, Stanbic put in a purely unsolicited bid to the government and even though it was not invited, the bank still went ahead to take the initiative. The paper said it learned from sources at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning that on the 1st of June, 2007, the ministry finally wrote a letter to Stanbic giving it the mandate to begin a process with the ministry, the Bank of Ghana and the management and staff of ADB. Further in its strategic partnership proposal, Stanbic indicated that, what Ghanaians need to understand first of all, was that here was a big bank with huge capital, huge system resource and huge opportunities that wants to partner ADB. It said, looking at the state banks that Stanbic has already merged with or bought in a number of countries, for instance in Malawi and Uganda, the bank has hired more staff and created more jobs. The bank went on to assure staff and management of ADB that they will have greater career opportunities as Stanbic has plans to put them through its banking university to go through its training programmes, and thereafter will offer them other opportunities around the globe, so that they could come back to help grow the economy. The proposal further states that Stanbic is seeking a partnership with ADB rather than a merger, and it will not give up the basic assets of the Bank, which are the people. Stanbic has some I,500 branches and 5000 ATMs on the continent and has maintained that its partnership with ADB will turn the latter’s fortunes around. The bank said, for instance, after it went into partnership with the Ugandan Commercial Bank, the market value of that bank jumped to a rating of about 500 from an initial figure of 50. Source: The Independent