Ghana rural banks attract investment from El Maniel

Ghana’s rural banks have attracted El Maniel International, an investment concern with interest in the mining sector.

According to a statement from the company, its Board has unanimously agreed to acquire Rural Community Banks in Ghana, especially those operating in mining areas as one of the company’s significant business growth and development milestones.

There are over hundred and twenty-five rural banks in the ten regions of Ghana, according to information on the website of the ARB Apex Bank Ltd., which is the central bank of the Rural Community Banks in the country.

The company however, does not say how many banks it intends to invest in.

The CEO of El Maniel, Jamie Khoo, says “As micro-credit services from RCB are commonly provided to small-scale mine operators, this Rural Community Banking division initiative in Ghana will be expected to also function as a reservoir of network and resources to compliment our gold trading business arm under EMLL Mining Limited.”

“Our banking initiatives is envisaged to be friendly towards small scale miners as a number of them are still facing difficulties in gaining access to the necessary capital from banks due to the nature of their activities being scattered, informal and lack of acceptable forms of collateral demanded by such banks,” he added.

El Maniel says it is a publicly traded ventures and holdings company with a current focus in gold field exploration and mining, oil terminal operations and philatelic investments.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi