The remarks come as the bank celebrates its 50th anniversary. Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) opened its doors to the public in 1972, as a policy bank established by the state, and has gone on to pioneer new initiatives in corporate and merchant banking in Ghana, including the deepening of the culture of capital markets in Ghana.

In an interview with Citi Business News on the prospects for the future, Mr. Nana Dwemoh Benneh said the UMB team is clear on where it wants to take the bank in the coming years.

“Our very dynamic and enthusiastic team has spent a lot of time trying to decide on the future it wants to build and we are very clear in our minds on what we want to do. UMB has a very strong corporate heritage and a strong portfolio of corporates. We want to build a strong SME portfolio, so we are an SME-focused bank.”

“We also want to become a digital-first bank. And digital-first for us is both in and out. How do we digitize our operations inside so that we offer seamless services to the customers and how do we also offer the kind of digital services that our clients are asking for? If we are able to do these two things, that is build a very significant SME portfolio and make inroads into becoming a digital-first bank, then we will be satisfied. Also, we want our SpeedApp to become a significant sub-brand that attracts particularly the youth and our retail customers,” he added.