BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari is the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana. He holds a doctorate from the University of Nottingham. Until his appointment as first deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana, he was a mission chief, and also a deputy division chief at the IMF, working with the strategy, policy and review and African departments. He has been with the IMF for over 8years. Before joining the IMF, he served as the special assistant to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 2006 to 2009. He also worked in several capacities at the Bank including, Head of Special Studies from 2005 to May 2006 and Senior Economist from 1996 to 2000.

Mr. Joseph Oko Abumah Lartey is the Chief Executive Officer of the Central Securities Depository (GH) LTD, a role he assumed in October 2023. Mr. Lartey has over 25 years of experience in the Financial Services Industry with a strong focus on information technology. 

Before he was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the CSD, he was an Assistant Director at the Bank of Ghana and the Head of Information Technology (IT) Operations of the Bank. Mr. Lartey has played vital roles in significant projects designed to shape the growth of Ghana’s financial industry ecosystem by the Bank of Ghana. Some of the latest projects participated in by Mr. Lartey include the ongoing SWIFT/RTGS Migration from ISO15022 to ISO20022 Messaging Standard, the Online Regulatory Analytics and Supervisory System (ORASS), and the Centralized Foreign Exchange Bureau Management System for the country. 

Mr. Lartey was a core team member responsible for implementing the Central Securities Depository (CSD) project at the Bank of Ghana in 2004. Also, he was a team member who worked with the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Finance to review and bring into being the Central Securities Depository Act 2007 (Act 733). He worked on debt instruments from his early days in the Bank, seeing its transition from the hand-written certificated form to the present electronic book entry form. He has undertaken study visits to nineteen (19) Securities Depositories and Exchanges worldwide, including STRATE in South Africa and NSDL of India.

The Bank previously seconded Mr. Lartey to serve as the first Head of the IT Department of the CSD (GH) LTD when finally, the CSD became a fully-fledged company in 2010 until 2013, when he was called back to the Bank. He has since continued to offer technical assistance to the CSD on several projects. He led the implementation of  CSD’s Information Security Management System (ISO/IEC27001) and Business Continuity Management System (ISO/IEC22301). Also, he played an instrumental role in various projects at the CSD, including the Securities Depository Project and the Automated Trading System (ATS) project at the Ghana Stock Exchange. He was part of the team that facilitated the merger of the Bank of Ghana CSD and the GSE CSD into the current CSD in 2013. 

Mr. Lartey is an IT specialist with a rich educational background in IT and Finance, and an alumnus of reputable institutions in the UK and Ghana. He holds a double Master, MSc. in Business Information Technologies from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, and an MBA in Finance from the University of Ghana. He obtained his first-degree B.Sc. in Computer Science from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. He also has qualifying certifications in ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Implementer/Leader Auditor and ISO/IEC 22301 Lead Implementer. 

Mrs. Angela N.A. Leibel has over 25 years of management and professional working experience across a wide-range of the financial industry in Ghana and other parts of Africa. Her experience in the financial industry spans from consumer and payroll lending, asset based financing/leasing, asset recovery and corporate restructuring. She also has in-depth experience in consulting and has consulted for institutions including the World Bank and the Asset Management/Corporate Restructuring International Inc., (AMCRII) Virginia, USA.

Mrs. Leibel is also a facilitator and has facilitated training programmes for various Institutions both locally and internationally including UNDP. She was the Deputy Managing Director of Bayport Financial Services, a position she held from 2005 until September 2017. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Corporate Management and Finance and a BSc. /B.A. in Social Science (Economics and Sociology) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Ghana

Ms. Abena Amoah is the first female Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, appointed by the Exchange’s Council as Deputy Managing Director in August 2020. She is a trailblazer in the capital markets industry and has served on boards of institutions such as Access Bank PLC, African Women’s Development Fund, Ghana Petroleum Funds, Kosmos Energy Ghana, University of Ghana Council, among others. She is passionate about youth empowerment and has mentored several persons who have taken up significant leadership roles themselves. Abena is an alumna of the University of Ghana Business School and has undertaken leadership studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, and the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business.

Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah was appointed to the Board of the CSD on September 10, 2021. Dr Assibey-Yeboah is the Senior Partner of Knox Consulting. He was the Member of Parliament for New Juaben South Constituency in the 6th and 7th Parliaments, as well as the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament from 2017 to 2021. He holds a B.Sc(Hons) Degree in Agricultural Economics from KNUST, Kumasi, and M.S in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Delaware, USA. He also holds an M.A and a Ph.D both in Economics from the University of Tennessee, USA, specializing in International Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics and Econometrics. Before he joined the Legislature, he was a Senior Economist at the Bank of Ghana. Before joining the Central Bank of Ghana, he was a lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). He also previously worked as a Lecturer at the University of Tennessee and as an Adjunct faculty member at Milligan College in USA. Dr. Assibey-Yeboah has been published in reputable journals such as Economic Record, International Journal of Finance and Economics, Journal of International Trade and Economic Development and the North American Journal of Economics and Finance. He is a member of the American Economic Association. 

Mr. Stephen Opata is Director of the Financial Markets Department at the Bank of Ghana and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. He also represents the Bank of Ghana on the Investment Advisory Committee of the Ghana Petroleum Fund. He joined the Bank of Ghana in 2006 and serves on the Reserves Management, Investments and Auctions Committees at the Central Bank. He was a member of the Ghana team that in February 2020 successfully issued a US$3billion Eurobond. He was appointed as a member of Ghana's National Risk Management Committee from 2010-2012; this Committee managed the oil hedging program on behalf of the Government of Ghana.

Mr. Opata also served on an Advisory Committee on the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) New Cooperative Project (NCP) in Asset Management Services (2013-2014) that designed investment guidelines for some foreign reserve investment portfolios.

Prior to joining the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Opata worked with JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wilmington, Delaware and New York in the United States of America as an Assistant Vice President, Risk Management and also  worked with BearingPoint (Formerly KPMG Consulting) McClean, Virginia in the USA as a Senior Management Consultant and Westcon Inc, Chantilly, Virginia, USA as a Senior Business Analyst.

Mr. Frank Yoofi Mensa Berle is currently the Deputy Managing Director of the GSE and is a well-rounded finance professional with decades of practical experience, adept at finance & accounting, capital market processes, taxation, financial economics, wealth management, and performance  optimization. 

Frank joined the Exchange in January 2001 as Manager, Finance & Operations, and then as Head of Finance & Administration in 2007. He served as Head of Securities Clearing & Settlement whiles as the Group Head, Finance & Administration, when the Exchange had a wholly owned subsidiary, the GSE Securities Depository (GSD) Ltd in 2008. Frank reverted to his current position in January 2015 after the merger between the GSE and the Central Securities Depository (GH) LTD. 

Prior to joining the Exchange, he served as a Financial Accountant for various companies, including Coconut Groove Hotel, Elmina, and Cadbury Ghana Ltd. He was a lecturer at the now Cape Coast Technical University in the 1997/98 academic year and taught at the School of Business Studies, the University of Cape Coast in 1993/1994.

Frank has extensive leadership and professional training in finance & accounting, business strategy, and capital market regulations, including study tours to many Exchanges in Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. He earned recognition as a Manson House Scholar in 2007 for his executive training in Capital Markets regulation at the London Stock Exchange and further acknowledged by the World Bank Group for his contribution to one of their flagship publications. 

Frank is a chartered accountant with additional chartered qualifications in taxation, financial economics, and wealth management. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, Ghana, and has memberships of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana; Association of Certified Chartered Economics, USA; Global Academy of Finance & Management, USA and the Institute of Directors, Ghana.

Frank further holds the Chartered Management Accounting qualification and membership of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), UK. He subsequently earned the coveted Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), the largest global accounting body that combines the strength of the American CPA and the British CIMA.

Frank Berle completed his secondary education at St. Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, then to the University of Cape Coast, where he obtained a Master of Philosophy degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Commerce degree done concurrently with a Diploma in Education. 

 

Board Secretary

Miss Horlali Bodza-Lumor holds a BSc (Marketing) from the University of Ghana Business School, a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) UK, a  LLB (Hons) from the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana and a Qualifying Certificate in Law from the Ghana School of Law, Makola. She was called to the Ghana Bar in October 2012 and joined the CSD in August 2018 as Legal Officer. She was appointed by the Board as Company Secretary in October 2019. Miss Bodzah-Lumor previously worked Zenith Bank Ghana Limited as legal Officer and with the erstwhile Procredit Savings and Loans Company Limited.

 

  • The CSD: The CSD provides a centralized depository, clearing and settlement services to the market.
  • SEC: The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates the CSD in accordance with CSD Act, Act 733.
  • PARTICIPANTS: The participants include banks, brokerage firms, custodian firms, SSNIT and Bank of Ghana.
  • ISSUERS: Currently there are three major issuers for the debt market, Government of Ghana, Bank of Ghana and Ghana Cocoa Board. Also there are thirty six listed and three unlisted equities issued by thirty nine (39) Institutions.
  • INVESTORS: Investors are individuals, firms and institutions living in Ghana or abroad that hold securities account in the depository.
  • SHAREHOLDERS: Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Stock Exchange

 

Mission

To provide a secure, dependable and efficient clearing, settlement, depository, registrar and other related securities services to satisfy our customers.

 
Vision

A globally recognised provider of efficient and reliable securities services, contributing to a well-organised and robust financial market in Ghana.

 
Core Values

Fairness                   : Impartial and equitable treatment for all

Accountability          : Be accountable and transparent in all our dealings

Customer Focus       : Highest priority to customer needs

Excellence                : Excellence in provision of service

Integrity                   : Adhere to high moral and ethical standards in the delivery of our services

Teamwork                : Collaborative effort to achieve a common goal

Security                   :  Be security aware and be deliberate about it

 
Strategic Themes

1.       Service Excellence

          Responsive, timely and accurate service delivery that exceeds customer expectations.

2.       Business Diversification

          A well-diversified business that delivers revenue growth from new businesses and minimizes vulnerability.

3.       Strategic Alliance

         We engage with relevant stakeholders and facilitate beneficial deepening and development of the financial market.

 

 

 

The establishment of the CSD is a vision embodied in Ghana's Financial Sector Strategic Plan (FINSSP) to attract Investments into the Ghanaian economy.

  1. Under the CSD system, there is total elimination of risk such as the loss, mutilation and theft of certificates associated with holding and trading of paper-based securities of investors.
  2. The CSD system ensures Delivery vs. Payment (DVP) where securities and funds are settled simultaneously. The CSD system has indeed brought a significant reduction in the errors and delays associated with paper-based manual processing and as a result brought efficiency in the clearing and settlement in the securities market. This increases market liquidity (increased activity in buying and selling of securities) because of faster transfers and registration.
  3. Investors can use their securities accounts in the same way as paper certificates as collateral for loans. It, however, saves investors the tedious procedure involved with pledging of paper share certificate for loans.
  4. The capability of investors to easily track their investments because quarterly statements will be sent to shareholders indicating the total number of shares on the stock exchange or the total face value of debt securities they own. Holders of securities can in addition request for statements at any time for a token fee.
  5. This brings afore the primary objective of the CSD, which is to reduce risk and improve efficiency.

There exists a signed agreement between the CSD and its participants for the maintenance of strict confidentiality of information and also to operate within the confines of the rules and regulations of the CSD. The CSD records are maintained in electronic format and therefore cannot be stolen or it getting lost; with an update being done concurrently as and when transactions are carried out.

OWNERSHIP

As at the end of December, 2014 Bank of Ghana owned 70% of Central Securities Depository (GH) Ltd whilst Ghana Stock Exchange owned 30%.

GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

CSD (GH) has a seven-member Board of Directors appointed by the two shareholders, BoG and GSE, and taking due cognizance of their background. Board meetings are generally held quarterly, but there is a provision for extraordinary meetings when the need arises. The Board has four committees, comprising the following: Finance and Audit Committee; Business Conduct Committee; Human Resource and Legal Committee; and Risk Committee. The Risk Committee meets at least once every quarter, while the other committees meet at least twice a year. The business operations of the Board and its Board committees are governed by a Board Charter.  The Board is responsible for reviewing and approving policies for implementation by the Executive Management team.

The Executive Management team comprises the Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and it is accountable to the Board of Directors. For effective supervision and discharge of the daily activities of the depository, the Executive Management is assisted by four Departments― Finance and Administration Department, IT Department, Operations Department, and Economic and Risk Analysis (ERA) Department. The Heads of the Departments report directly to the Executive Management. The depository also has an Internal Auditor who is responsible for auditing all procedures and controls, and reports to the Board. Finally, the depository has a Legal Officer responsible for providing legal services and advice to the company, and also doubles as the Secretary to the Board.

 

 

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