The survey, which was aimed at providing general information on Ghana's formal banking sector and the performance of banks operating in the country from 2004 to 2008 highlighted remarkable developments by individual banks, with Stanbic Bank one of the most noticed achievers. In an interview with the Graphic Business, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the bank, Mr Alhassan Andani attributed the success story to what he described as "strong strategic vision in the last three years". "We said we were going to grow and the bank's group had identified Ghana, where it intended to expand its network and, therefore, for Ghana the idea was to grow the business. This is what we have done", he said in an interview. He made reference to bank's initial foray into the country, describing how the bank tried to acquire a bank in Ghana but failed. Mr Andani said when the bid failed, it was so agreed that since the company's policy of "acquire to grow" was not possible, we took the other option of "invest to grow". "So now from three branches, within the last three years, we have moved it to 21 branches across the country and [we are still] growing", he said. Mr Andani said now the bank has what appeals to individuals and corporate bodies alike, and therefore irrespective of your income level you will still find Stanbic as a friendly bank. "We have a bank that appeals to the big, medium and small scale industries in the country", he said satisfactorily. With the negative effects of the global financial crisis felt in the country many companies seem to be suffering from serious cash flow problems, which is having a toll on their operations. This is where Stanbic believes it can still offer more to help businesses. Mr Andani admitted the effect of the global financial crisis on companies but noted also that this was why the bank needed to assist those in distress to find their feet. He said the players in the various sectors were in negotiations with Stanbic Bank to see how they would be supported to overcome the challenges they faced within the economy. According to him, the bank had adopted a multi-faceted approach to helping solve the problem at stake and to help resolve the challenges individuals and businesses are facing today. "We are aware that the crisis is having a toll on the Ghanaian economy and we are adopting a multi-sectorial approach", he said. "This can be described as a bilateral client management", he added. On the need for the bank to increase its minimum capital requirement as stipulated by the Bank of Ghana, Mr Andani explained that the owners of the bank were on top of the issue. According to him, the bank is privately owned for which the owners have made a strong commitment to provide the needed funds to enable it to meet the minimum capital requirement. "So we are not stretched in terms of how to raise the capital because our shareholders have given the strongest indication to help. They have given us some money already [for this purpose]. So, it will be based on the profit that we have recorded in the past and what they have also pledged. We have held on to all our profits in the past and we have not paid any dividend to our shareholders@, he explained. Even though the stock market in Ghana has afforded companies the opportunity to raise more funds to finance key projects, according to Mr Andani Stanbic was not going there now because its shareholders have enough to support its business operations. Stanbic Bank gave perhaps the strongest indication to acquire the biggest stake in the country's major agricultural bank, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) when the government of the day offered to offload part of its shares in the bank. The move by the government was met with a lot of resistance from not only politicians and analysts but also the trade union bodies. It was argued at the time that the sale of the shares to a privately owned bank would not only bring about unemployment as a result of a possible redeployment of staff but that the bank could also reduce its investment in the agricultural sector, which employs more than 60 per cent of the country's workforce. It was also feared that ADB in the hands of a private bank will increase bank charges and that could affect some public and civil sector workers, majority of whom have their salaries paid through the bank. To others, it was a good attempt by Stanbic to use the easiest way to entrench itself in the country's banking industry. When questioned on whether Stanbic was still interested in the ADB deal, Mr Andani replied that "in the first place ADB is not for sale [anymore]". He also denied that Stanbic lobbied intensively to have the right to acquire ADB so as to be able to entrench itself as a major bank in the country. "The [proposed] sale of ADB was made public in the 2007 national budget and the government's economic policy statement", he explained the transparency about the whole deal. As to whether the bank was still interested, he said" we still believe that Ghana is a potential growth country for tStanbic. The situation at the time is different from what it was now". "We are here for the very long haul and to take a significant share of the market. We still see Ghana as a growth economy; we still see Ghana as a major place to do business", he added. It has also become known in media circles that many of the banks were now investing in treasury bills as a short term investment instrument to raise some additional capital to survive in this turbulent times, primarily because of the risk free nature of treasury bills. It is argued that because of this development many of the banks have cut down on lending. So what does he think of this? In responding to a question on this development Mr Andani described the move by those banks involved "as not doing banking". "Those doing so are not doing banking. Tell them that is no banking" he added. According to him, in banking one had to build a strong clientele base which was not easy to do and therefore, any attempt for a bank to invest its funds in short term government instruments such as treasury bills would mean driving away clients. "For us banking is about building a sustainable client relationship integrated into the economy so we do not subscribe to that at all", he said. According to him banks played a significant role in the building and sustainability of economies and the move to ensure that banks survived in the face of the serious global financial crisis, banks are being saved to be able to play their pivotal roles, the United States of America, Britain and other countries in Europe being no exception. On competition in the banking industry he said the bank was happy with the intense competition and indicated that "competition is one of the reasons we are growing the way we are now". Story by