Ghana's minimum capital requirement for capital market players hits new height

desmond frimpong

May 19, 2018 3:23 PM

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the new level would be in the range of ¢1 million to about ¢10 million.

The minimum capital requirement for all players in the capital market is set to witness some significant increase.

The increment for this sector would be different compared to the banking and Insurance sectors.

This is because unlike, those sectors where there is one level requirement, the same cannot be said for the capital market.

So for instance, financial advisers may be asked to increase their capital to about ¢1 million while fund managers would be asked to increase their capital from the current ¢100,000 to ¢2 million.

According to Commission, the capital increase would also be done base on the risk of a particular institution or call it risk-based capital increase.

Deputy Director General of the Securities Executive Commission, Paul Ababio, says this move is to ensure that the sector is well capitalized to manage depositor’s funds, “so depending on the type of business you operate, the capital requirement would be different”.

According to the Commission, part of the capital requirement would start this year and they may look at implementing other aspects from next year.

Sources say failure to meet the requirement may result in that firm losing its license or some sanctions.

However, some players in the industry are already expressing concerns about this planned capital increase.

desmond frimpong