Nduom: Any Standard Chartered Retail Sale Must Go to a Ghanaian Firm

Businessman and former presidential candidate Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom has waded into discussions surrounding Standard Chartered Bank Ghana's future, insisting that should the multinational lender offload its retail banking arm, the buyer must be a home-grown Ghanaian institution.

Dr Nduom, founder and chairman of Groupe Nduom, made his position clear in a brief but direct post on his official Facebook page on Friday, 26 June. "Make no mistake about this: if Standard Chartered is selling its retail banking business, the buyer should be an indigenous Ghanaian company," he wrote, without elaborating further.

His remarks come amid wider reports that Standard Chartered is reviewing its global retail banking strategy in certain markets, though the bank has made no official announcement concerning its Ghanaian operations specifically. Any eventual transaction would require sign-off from the Bank of Ghana and would almost certainly attract both local and international interest.

Debate Over Local Ownership Reignited

The comments are expected to reopen debate on indigenous participation in Ghana's financial sector — a conversation that gained considerable momentum following the Bank of Ghana's banking sector clean-up and consolidation exercise in recent years, which saw several local lenders lose their licences.

Dr Nduom himself is no stranger to that episode. A court recently ruled in his favour in the long-running legal battle over the revocation of GN Savings and Loans' licence, a ruling widely seen as a landmark outcome from the broader financial sector reforms.

As a longstanding advocate for indigenous enterprise, Dr Nduom's call is likely to find support among stakeholders who believe Ghanaian-owned financial institutions deserve greater room to grow and to compete on equal footing with multinational banks operating in the country.