Title: Does corporate governance matter in the failures of listed home-grown banks?

Authors: Kingsley Opoku Appiah; Henry Kofi Mensah; Joseph Amankwah-Amoah; Ahmed Agyapong

Addresses: Department of Accounting and Finance, School of Business, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana ' Department of Human Resources and Organizational Development, School of Business, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana ' Kent Business School, University of Kent, UK ' Department of Marketing and Corporate Strategy, School of Business, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract: Building on corporate governance-failure literature, this study fills a void in the current literature by examining how corporate governance issues can cause business failures of home-grown listed banks. Employing the case of the failure of a listed local bank in Ghana - UT Bank, we found that, although the bank recognised best practices in corporate governance as a prevailing framework to promote efficiency, transparency, accountability, and integrity, these principles were continuously violated and ignored, culminating in the demise of the business. In addition to this, early warning signals were also ignored. Specifically, UT's independent directors failed to think and act independently in the interest of the bank and its depositors. The managerial, policy and research implications are examined.

Keywords: corporate governance; Africa; Ghana; sustainable development; bank failure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCA.2023.131240

International Journal of Critical Accounting, 2023 Vol.13 No.2, pp.131 - 150

Accepted: 17 Jan 2023
Published online: 01 Jun 2023 *