Nevertheless, continued high inflation and interest rates (particularly on Treasury Bills) has limited the incentive for commercial financial institutions to reach out to smaller, poorer clients (though enabling weak RCBs to improve their capital adequacy with highly restricted lending). Liberalization of financial policies in the late 1980s has enabled RMFIs to develop with relatively little interference, and without a clearly articulated national strategy. The Bank of Ghana has taken a relatively laissez-faire position vis-à-vis the informal sector. Linkages also occur between informal savings-based “susu” institutions and both RCBs and S&Ls.
While the RCBs have had limited outreach, some have effectively partnered with NGOs to introduce microfinance methodologies such as village banking, and they are now being strengthened as the backbone for expansion of rural financial services. Although the US$2 million minimum capital requirement makes the S&Ls less accessible for NGO transformation, it has led to introduction of foreign capital.
It is currently establishing an Apex Bank to serve the RCBs, link them more effectively to the commercial banking system, and take the lead in building their capacity and, eventually, in undertaking front-line supervision. Supervision of a large number of RMFIs is costly relative to their potential impact on the financial system (about 7% of assets), and the Bank of Ghana has adopted a number of strategies to cope with its limited supervision capacity: raising reserve requirement for RCBs to as high as 62% drastically raising the minimum capital requirement for NBFIs and permitting self-regulation of credit unions by their apex body. The informal sector is dominated by a variety of savings-based methodologies, both individual and group. Small unit Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) are accommodated in the Banking Act savings and loan companies in the Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) Law and credit unions under a new law being prepared to recognize their dual nature as cooperatives and financial institutions. The result – though not entirely by conscious design – is several tiers of different types of RMFIs with a strong savings orientation and a much greater role of licensed institutions relative to NGOs than is found in many countries.
Legislation and regulations governing rural and micro finance institutions (RMFIs) in Ghana have evolved with the market, both opening up possibilities for new types of institutions and tightening up to restrain excessive entry and weak performance in the face of inadequate supervision capacity.
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