Collapsing banks saved 50K jobs – Finance Minister

The Finance Minister,

According to him, the decision by the Central Bank to collapse the banks was “bold” and was necessary to keep the financial sector in check.

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Last year, the Bank of Ghana revoked the licenses of the UT and Capital Banks over their insolvency.

This was followed by the liquidation of five other indigenous banks following their inability to meet the Central Bank’s minimum capital.

The BoG subsequently merged the BEIGE, Sovereign, uniBank, Royal and Construction Banks to form the Consolidated Bank of Ghana Limited.

However, the Finance Minister believes the decision to collapse the aforementioned banks was very necessary to keep the financial sector in check.

He explained that liquidating the banks was geared towards saving over 50,000 white collar-jobs in the banking sector.

Speaking at a forum organised in Accra by the Danquah Institute, Mr. Ofori-Atta said so far GHc8 billion of tax payers funds had been used to protect the depositors and jobs.

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“The leadership of the BoG has risen to the challenge. It’s a call to duty as we try to understand that these are difficult moments for all of us and that it requires some courage to take some bold decision,” he added.

He further criticised the actions of the Board members whose mismanagement led to the collapse of the respective banks.

Mr. Ofori-Atta described the situation as “plain thievery on the citizens by some shareholders and directors of these banks and a clear compromise by some official of the central bank”.