The President and CEO of CFA Institute, Paul Smith CFA, has called for stronger institutions in Ghana’s financial sector to prevent a loss of confidence in the sector.
According to him, if proper structures are not put in place, the financial market in Ghana could potentially come to a halt leading to a lack of trust from the public.
Speaking in an interview with Citi News, on the back of the Ghana Investment Conference, Mr. Paul Smith added that strong institutions within the financial space is needed to efficiently operate the current financial markets.
“An overview is that without strong institutions, and appropriate institutions, the financial market here in Ghana will constantly go through a kind of stop start process where things go very well for a time and then a road block is hit, confidence is lost and fraud possibly occur and the general public lose all faith in finance, in banking institutions and investment institutions.”
“So you need strong institutions to make sure markets operate efficiently and savings are efficiently channeled from people’s hands where they need to be used in society at large.”
‘SEC doing a great job’
Mr. Paul Smith was however full of praise for the Security and Exchanges Commission for the good management of some of the problems with locked up investments from some Ponzi schemes.
According to him, “SEC is doing a good job” with the management of the recent financial crisis although its job is ‘incredibly hard’.
He explained that in managing financial crisis situations, it is importance to look out for the lesser evil to mitigate the situation and create a better financial ecosystem to prevent further problems.
He also added that his engagements with the leadership of SEC points to the fact that they are in control of the current financial situation.
“I think they are doing a good job, it is an incredibly hard job where you inherit a situation whichever way you term there will be people who will be unhappy with what you do, so the mistake is to think there is a perfect solution for these things, you have to choose the lesser of all of the evils in-front of you.”
“I think they are doing a good job, my conversations with the SEC today, lead me to believe they are fully aware fo the situation firstly, if anyone is in any doubt that they are asleep that is quite wrong, they are very aware of what the situation is and they are working hard to resolve it.”
About CFA Institute
CFA Institute is a global association of investment professionals.
The organization offers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement(CIPM) designation, and the Investment Foundations Certificate.
It provides continuing education conferences, seminars, webcasts, and publications to allow members and other participants to stay current on developments in the investment industry. CFA Institute also oversees the CFA Institute Research Challenge for university students and the Research Foundation of CFA Institute.