GH¢400m Recovered From UT, Capital Banks’ Assets

Some GH¢400 million has been realised from the sale and recovery of assets of erstwhile UT and Capital banks, Joint Receivers of both banks, PricewaterhouseCoopers has disclosed.

According to a statement issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers and signed by one Eric Nipah, a key component of the Receiverships is to secure all assets including the recovery of outstanding loans and advances not assumed by GCB for the benefit of creditors.

“The greatest value of the banks’ assets is the loan stock. It constitutes approximately 70 per cent of the total assets of GH¢3.9 billion of the banks and this is at the heart of our recovery efforts. The total loan stock of the two banks amounted to GH¢2.7 billion as at the receivership date,” the statement by the Joint Receivers said.

“We have realised over GH¢400 million through our sale and recovery efforts,” PricewaterhouseCoopers noted.

Both UT and Capital banks went into receivership in August 2017, as a result of severe impairment of their capital. GCB Bank Ghana Limited, through a Purchase and Assumption Agreement, purchased some assets and assumed certain liabilities of the two banks.

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as Joint Receivers for the collapsed banks.

According to the Joint Receivers, the creditor base of the two banks included the Bank of Ghana, depositors, Development Finance Institutions, employees and trade suppliers of both banks.

“We have made a request for creditors to submit their claims and proofs of debt for validation. Of a combined creditor claim of the two banks amounting to approximately GH¢4.4 billion lodged with the Joint Receivers so far, we have validated and agreed on claims worth approximately GH¢3.7 billion,” the statement disclosed.

It noted that the payment of creditors will be governed by the Banking and Specialised Deposit Taking Act 2016, Act 930 in the order of “Secured Creditors, Bank of Ghana, statutory amounts owed Government, e.g. taxes, wages and salaries owed employees, etc.”

“In our efforts to recover outstanding loans, we have initiated a civil action against debtors with several writs filed so far. Where there has been criminal activity, we have involved the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO). In the investigation of some of these criminal activities, EOCO has prepared several dockets and sent them to the Attorney General’s Department for prosecution,” the Joint Receivers said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said it was vigorously pursuing debtors through negotiations and court actions in order to recover substantial amounts owed both banks as this is critical to the task of paying creditors including employees.

To this end, the Joint Receivers noted that it will soon be publishing the names and amounts owed the two banks by defaulters in both print and electronic media.

Source: The Finder