Kwesi Pratt blames BOG, government for collapse of 5 banks

Veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt Jr is blaming lax supervision on the part of the Bank of Ghana for the

UniBank Ghana Limited, The Royal Bank Limited, Beige Bank Limited, Sovereign Bank Limited, and Construction Bank Limited were on Wednesday merged to form the Consolidated Bank of Ghana Limited (CBG) owing to liquidity challenges and fraud in acquiring banking license.

“There will be no way Bank of Ghana can be exonerated for it has in itself totally failed its laws of operating as a mother bank,” said Mr Pratt on Peace FM’s 'Kokrokoo' show. “How can you grant licenses to yet-to-become banks that have a fault with its documents… it is a statement over your capacity as the issuer to do due diligence.”

He also cited government indebtedness as a major factor in the collapse of the local five banks.

“I will not accept the blame that some bank institution leaders are the cause of their banks' malfunction, rather government’s numerous deficits and some citizens’ unpaid loans to some of the banks are also a major factor,” he said.

“I found it amazing that foreign banks are left to operate in the same procedures and same total adequacy rate, just as local banks in this country. So how do we grow and improve local banks under these criteria?” he asked.

The Second Deputy Governor of the BoG on Thursday admitted the central bank’s “supervisory role” was "not adequate" in an interview.