BoG assures funds available to pay savings & loans firms, finance houses

“In line with the Government’s commitment to protect depositors’ funds, the Government has made funds available to enable the Receiver pay depositors after their claims are validated. The Receiver will in due course make an announcement with regards to when and where payments will be made,” a statement issued on Friday by the BoG said.

The central bank said the Receiver for affected financial institutions, Eric Nipah will “in due course “announce when and where the payments to the depositors will be made.”

The BoG on Friday revoked the licences of twenty-three (23) insolvent savings and loans companies and finance house companies.

The affected institutions include GN Savings and Loans, ASN Financial Services, Midland Savings and Loans, Unicredit Savings and Loans and Women’s World Banking Savings and Loans.

The central bank in a statement on Friday, August 16, 2019, said the revocation of the licences of these institutions has become necessary because they are insolvent even after a reasonable period within which the Bank of Ghana has engaged with them in the hope that they would be recapitalized by their shareholders to return them to solvency.”

“It is the Bank of Ghana’s assessment that these institutions have no reasonable prospects of recovery, and that their continued existence poses severe risks to the stability of the financial system and to the interests of their depositors,” the statement added.

The statement further explained that the actions “were taken pursuant to Section 123 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930), which requires the Bank of Ghana to revoke the licence of a Bank or Specialised Deposit-Taking Institution (SDI) where the Bank of Ghana determines that the institution is insolvent. The Bank of Ghana has also appointed Mr Eric Nipah as a Receiver for the specified institutions in line with section 123 (2) of Act 930.”