It took me 15 years after leaving the military to establish UT – Kofi Amoabeng

A former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the defunct Unique Trust (UT) Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, has revealed that his exit from the military in 1982 made him decide to set up the bank.

According to him, he had no plans of venturing into business because he loved to be in the army. However, things changed and he was compelled to retire from the security force.

Speaking in an interview on Prime Morning on Joy Prime on Monday, the retired banker recounted that, “there was the first revolution in 1979 and at that time I was in UK and I wasn’t going to come back [but] the Rawlings group handed over to Limann. So I said ‘there’s a civilian government now, so I must go back and continue my military career’.”

“When I got back, the military had changed completely; then there was the PNDC in 1981 and that killed it for me. The institution that I loved and admired [which] was well structured was turned upside down completely; so literally, I left,” he told Benjamin Akakpo.

Mr. Amoabeng further explained that his friendship with a businessman, soon after he left the army, exposed him to the new world of being an entrepreneur, although he considers that period as a learning curve.

The former military officer noted that his early days in the banking field were tough as he struggled to secure the needed capital to sustain the institution.

“From 1982 when I left the army, it took me 15 years to set up Unique Trust and within that 15 years, I say I was learning. I would have been a millionaire long ago if I had funding because I had all sorts of opportunities but the problem was always funding.”

“That’s how come one time, it hit me that [I should] start this issue of providing money instead of looking for monies that you don’t get,” he added.

Prince Kofi Amoabeng is a co-founder of defunct UT Bank which collapsed in 2017 during Ghana’s banking sector cleanup.

UT Bank was part of the seven indigenous banks whose licences were revoked by the Bank of Ghana in 2017 and 2018 for being insolvent.

Source: Christian Yalley