Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited emerge 2nd, Ecobank Ghana Limited came 3rd , United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Ltd in the 4th position, Barclays Bank of Ghana Ltd in the 5th position and Societe Generale (Ghana) Limited in the 6th position.

The 7th position was occupied by Stanbic Bank Ghana Ltd, 8th position by Fidelity Bank Limited, 9th position by Access Bank (Ghana) Limited, 10th position by GCB Bank Limited, 11th position by CAL Bank Limited, 12th by Universal Merchant Bank Limited, and the 13th position by Bank of Africa Ghana Ltd.

The rest of the positions were occupied by Bank of Baroda (Ghana) Limited in the 14th position, FBNBank (Ghana) Ltd in the 15th, Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) in 16th , First National Bank (Ghana) Ltd in the 17th, First Atlantic Bank Ltd in the 18th, GHL Bank in the 19th position and Republic Bank (Ghana) Ltd 20th position.

How the rankings were made

According to a statement, the assessment draws on an index of the banks compiled using Credmap technology (www.credmap.com), a novel “credibility-rating” engine that is capable of combining crowdrating and data mining to generate “credibility scores” of individuals and institutions using pooled data about their track record, history, commentary, biography, popular sentiment and reputation.

“Credmap’s algorithms mash the data together to distill the complex information into compact rankings, scores and benchmarks,” the statement said.

All 30 of Ghana’s tier one/universal banks were subsequently benchmarked against Credmap’s measures, compared to each other, and then ranked in what became the Ghana Banking Credibility Index (GBCI), a process that was overseen by a team of senior technical analysts at Konfidants, a management consulting company based in Accra, Johannesburg and Geneva.

In this inaugural index, the primary focus was on the quality of bank boards and senior management personnel.

The Konfidants team was of the view that in the wake of recent developments in the banking sector, corporate governance and management competence have emerged as, by far, the most critical factors in determining bank performance and success.

Some major criteria in the computation of the GBCI rankings were:

A. Executive track record of the board & management membership

B. Educational qualifications of board members and senior management personnel

C. The emphasis on continuous professional development within the studied banks.

D. Reputational factors

E. Degree of board independence from shareholder and management control and influence (this factor was analysed using a proprietary “relationship graph” and “insider connections” rating logic).

F. Consistency and accuracy in board and management communications as ascertained from comments in the media, advertising, and publications, including official documentation and reports.