President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that 98% of the depositors of the microfinance and savings and loans companies have received their monies.
According to him, the intervention by the Bank of Ghana was very timely; it protected the savings of depositors since some of the microfinance and savings and loans companies were on the verge of collapse.
"98%, all those whose savings were in the banks, all those savings have been refunded and paid to the people and in fact, the intervention of the central bank was to protect the savings because many of the banks that went into receivership were about to collapse, their situation was dire and even if we have allowed [them] to collapse all those deposits would have gone up in smoke," President Akufo-Addo told Koforidua-based Sunrise FM during his Eastern Regional tour on Tuesday.
The president continued: “As far as microfinance and savings and loans and institutions are concerned 98% of the deposits and the funds have also been paid, there is still a balance. The receivers and others are working on it and I believe Nana Nipah has made it known that by the end of August, all of them would have been paid.”
He emphasized: “Yes, there are still some in the system that have not received their money but every effort is being made to make sure that they receive it. In order for this to happen, this just another important thing, all together, when it is over banks, microfinance, savings and loans, investment funds, 21 billion cedis is what is coming from the government to protect Ghanaian depositors and investors; to make sure that people do not pay for the irresponsible money. We are determined to pay them.”
The Bank of Ghana (BoG), in 2019, embarked on a clean-up of the financial sector and revoked the licences of some banks, microfinance and savings and loans companies.
This exercise by the BoG resulted in the loss of jobs and in some cases locking up of depositors’ funds.
To assuage their pain, the government has assured a 100 per cent restoration of their locked-up funds once each depositor had been verified.
Source: ghanaweb.com
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As early as June 2018, six months before the deadline to raise an additional 280 Million in minimum capital, the Minister of Finance went to Akuffo Addo’s cabinet with his plans to revoke the license of GN Bank. As documented in a confidential memo from the cabinet secretary, the Minister was asked to rather work with the management of the bank and Bank of Ghana to ensure that the company does not collapse. Not satisfied with this answer, the Minister began to starve the Bank and its affiliates of cash by withholding payments due contractors owed by not only his ministry but by COCOBOD, GETFUND, and the Ministry of Roads and Highways. In a secret memo presented to Cabinet in September of 2018, the Minister doubled down on his request to close down the bank, spelling out the political nature of his request in no uncertain terms. “Cabinet is respectfully requested to consider and approve the revocation of the licence of GN Bank Company Limited owned by a businessman and a politician, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom,” wrote the Minister of Finance in his Secret Memo. “In the case of the GN Bank, the owner who is considered as a threat to our survival has taken a due advantage of his position in society and his past relationship with the government” the report from the Minister continues. In section 2.3 of the memo, Ken Ofori Atta writes: “It is important to note that Dr Nduom has established himself beyond the borders of Ghana, and therefore touching his so-called business empire must be done with care and diplomacy so that our arch-rivals (NDC) does not make political capital out of this.” What business does the Minister of Finance have inserting himself into the affairs of the Bank of Ghana in this matter? In what way is Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom a “threat to the survival”