The National Investment Bank (NIB) has hosted a five (5) day workshop on Financial Modeling for Project Finance in Accra. The workshop was held in collaboration with AADFI (Association of African Development Finance Institutions).

AADFI is an International organization with over 80 member Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) across Africa with multilateral DFIs from Asia and Europe. The participants for the workshop were from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Rwanda, South Africa and Botswana. The aim of the workshop was to equip participants with the knowledge on how to develop and apply effective and robust financial models for projects viability. Speaking at the opening ceremony, the MD/CEO of NIB Mr. John Kweku Asamoah challenged participants to take advantage of the workshop to deepen their knowledge on financial modeling. This he said will help improve their competence and performance.

Mr. Asamoah added that the challenges facing the African continent are similar and therefore entreated participants to openly share their peculiar experiences and challenges to serve as a case study for all to learn from. In a speech read on behalf of the 2nd Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiama by the Deputy Chief Manager, Dr. Christian Ahortor of the Research Department, Bank of Ghana, Dr. Asiama said Development Finance Institutions play critical roles in providing an inclusive financial services such as credit, insurance, savings and payment services to the poor.

He further urged DFIs to provide sustainable finance that deals with social and environmental challenges associated with their growth and development. Dr. Asiama disclosed that the Bank of Ghana is working with the Association of Bankers to review the existing Base Rate Model. The idea behind the model he said was to bring transparency to rate setting and hence lending rate in the economy. The committee he said has completed its work and soon a draft notice would be issued for implementation.

Dr. Asiama also indicated that the Bank of Ghana is developing a Central Data Hub for use by data providers to ease data submission to Credit Bureaus. He added that proposed amendments to the Borrowers and Lenders Act 2008 (Act 773) have been drafted with the aim of strengthening the Secured Transaction Regime in the creation, perfection, priority and enforcement of security interest on both movable and non-movable properties.

In conclusion, he urged financial institutions to work with financial technology firms to deploy security systems with threat intelligence capabilities to assist in preventing cyber threats to financial infrastructures. He enjoined financial institutions and payment systems operators to obtain international security certifications such as the ISO 27001 and the PCI DSS as these as necessary to promote integrity of the financial payment systems.

Source: NIB