Invest in Ghana. Find out Why

Invest in Ghana: Africa's Golden Gateway to a safe and stable Investment Destination.  Below are some reasons.
1. A stable political environment within the West Africa sub region.
2. Abundant, adaptable and easily trainable labour force.
3. A competitive daily minimum wage rate.

Focusing on the Banking sector of the Ghana Stock Exchange (Part I)

The financial sector on the Ghana Stock Exchange includes banking and non-banking stocks. There are seven (7) banks on the exchange, six of which operate in the country and one in Gambia, (Trust Bank ltd, TBL). The banks operating in Ghana include CAL Bank (CAL), Ecobank Ghana (EBG), Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), HFC Bank (HFC), Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), and UT Bank (UTB).

Let us now look at the various facts & figures behind these banks and how they performed since January 2012 on the Stock market.
I would be concentrating on GCB & HFC in this post.

Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB);

GCB - Bloomberg Chart: Price movement from Dec 2011 to May 2012. 

With market capitalization of about GHS 506.15 million, GCB began the

Only 38 West African companies made it to the list of Africa's Top 250 companies

Over thousands of companies are registered in West Africa. Most of which are registered in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d' Ivoire. But despite the numbers, only thirty eight of  West African companies made it to the list of Africa's Top 250 Companies.

Africa's Top 250 Companies list is compiled annually by the African Business team and in the April issue of the AFRICAN BUSINESS magazine, financial data from Dr. Ayo Salami, (co-founder of African Business Research Ltd) as at 31st December 2011 indicated that

Is Ghana Stock Exchange a company? Who owns it? What is it then?

Hello reader,
I decided to write this because of some questions posed to me by some followers of this blog and it is all about the Ghana Stock Exchange. "Is the Ghana Stock Exchange a company?" she asked, If it is a company then who owns it and what do they do? If not a company then what is it?
Just like a market for trading fish, tomatoes, yam and other products, the Ghana Stock Exchange is a platform for trading securities (shares, bonds, futures, etc). Sellers bring their products and buyers come to buy. But because there are a lot of sellers and buyers, they are represented on the Exchange by Licensed Dealing Members (LDMs), (what people called Brokerage Firms or brokers). This means as a buyer or a seller, you cannot go to the exchange to buy or sell yourself (although some do).
The Ghana Stock Exchange plays a major role in securities industry regulation and is thus classified as a Self- Regulatory Organization. With respect to its numerous responsibilities, it simply monitors trading. It has Directors just like a company but the Securities and Exchange Commission oversees its regulation by making sure they do what they are supposed to do in the market and what is appropriate under the Security Industry Law (SIL)- the principal regulator.
When Public Limited Liability Companies want to raise capital for their business, the list shares on the exchange (that is, allowing people to own part of their company), so when investors study the company and find that the company is good and strong among other factors, they contact their brokers for them to make the trade - money, for part of the company. That is what the Ghana Stock Exchange oversees; that the right amount is paid and the ownership rights of part of the company is transferred to the name of the buyer or investor (in form of shares).
Finally, the Ghana Stock Exchange is privately financed and managed with the budget mainly financed by its members (LDMs and Associates) and issuer companies.