TIG Post

Tag: Collapsed Banks

  • Mahama promises to reinstate defunct banks after thorough, unbiased assessment

    Mahama promises to reinstate defunct banks after thorough, unbiased assessment

    2024 flagbearer for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has reiterated his commitment to reviving collapsed banks and financial institutions following a thorough and unbiased assessment.

    He emphasised that this initiative is crucial for stabilising the financial sector and restoring public trust.

    Mahama expressed his concern about Ghana’s rising unemployment rate and urged Ghanaians to support him in the 2024 general elections to help rejuvenate the struggling economy.

    JohnMahamaLIVE_Sunday-June-09-1Download

    He highlighted that restoring these financial institutions would create jobs and stimulate economic growth.

    During an interaction with Ghanaians on Sunday, June 9, Mahama acknowledged the increasing frustration among the youth.

    He outlined his vision for economic recovery, stressing the need for inclusive policies that benefit all segments of society.

    The former president assured the youth of his commitment to fostering a nation characterised by shared growth and prosperity.

    He reiterated his dedication to addressing unemployment and creating a more equitable economic environment through the revival of key financial institutions and the implementation of progressive policies.

    “By resetting Ghana, I will repair the dangerous damage to our country’s economy and people. Businessmen and women who government apparatchiks have given raw deals will have their say and can be assured of restoration.

    After a thorough and unbiased assessment, collapsed banks and financial institutions will be restored. We will provide decent and well-paying jobs through my 24-hour economy initiative.”

    “Let me be clear: I am utterly appalled and disappointed by the unprecedented unemployment rate we are seeing today,” he said.

  • Liquidity risk is well contained in the banking sector BoG

    The Bank of Ghana has noted that profitability within the banking sector improved during the year under review. Return-on-Equity (ROE) increased to 28.65 percent at end-December 2019 from 27.70 percent at end-December 2018.

    Similarly, Return-on-Assets (ROA) increased to 2.87 percent at end-December 2019 from 2.26 percent at end of December 2019, the BoG said.

    The positive growth in profits was mainly as a result of increasing net interest income.

    Improvement in the earnings of banks is expected to reinforce capital accumulation efforts of banks and banking sector soundness.

    Liquidity risk is well contained in the banking sector. Liquidity measures generally remained unchanged during the period under review.

    These measures indicated that the banking sector was in the position to cover its immediate and short-term debts and obligations.

    The improved liquidity stance was mainly driven by the increase in cash and balances due banks mainly as a result of the recapitalisation exercise and subsequent increase in long-term deposits after the clean-up of the banking sector.

    Source: Laud Business

  • Ex-Venture Capital CEO, others begin refunding money to state

    The three former officials of the Venture Capital Trust Fund who were convicted have started refunding money to the state per the arrangement with the court in order to avoid jail terms.

    Former CEO Daniel Duku was asked to refund over 15 million cedis.

    Irene Anti Mensah, Executive Assistant to the CEO, Frank Aboagye Mensah husband to the executive assistant are both to refund more than two million cedis.

    Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee, CEO for Venture Capital Trust Fund Yaw Owusu Berempong, revealed the three have started paying the amounts after admitting to given loans to themselves in the name of other companies.

    According to him, if the three fail to pay the total amounts in 3 months they will be sent to jail.

    Background

    The three accused persons, Daniel Duku (1st Accused), Irene Anti-Mensah (3rdAccused) and Frank Aboagye Mensah (5th Accused), entered into negotiations with the Attorney General under Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993, (Act 459), a provision that allows accused persons to offer compensation and restitution to the State for the loss, harm or damage caused the State.

    The accused persons per the agreement changed their plea from a not guilty to guilty and they were convicted on their own plea by the court.

    Fines

    Per the agreement reached, Mr Duku will pay an amount of GHC15,000,000.00 to the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) and a fine of five hundred thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢500,000.00) to the State.

    Anti-Mensah, is to pay GH1.5M to the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) and a fine of One Hundred Thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢100,000.00) to the State.

    Frank Aboagye Mensah is to pay (GH¢1,195,000.00) to Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) and a fine of One Hundred Thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢100,000.00) to the State.

    As part of his terms, the first accused, Daniel Duku, is to forfeit about eight (8) buildings at the Agyekum Presidential Villa at Adjiringano and Georgetown Heights 6 apartments of 3 bedrooms each, and five (5) vehicles, including a Porsche Cayenne and Porsche Panamera, to the State.

    The accused persons are expected to make good all the payments within three months from Friday, July 10, 2020.

    Charges

    Per the charge sheet of the State as presented in Court, the first accused person, Daniel Duku was charged with the offences of Wilfully causing financial loss to the Republic contrary to section 179A (3) (a) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 459), Stealing contrary to section 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), Money Laundering contrary to section 1(1) (c) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2008, (Act 749) and Issuing of False cheque contrary to section 313A (1) (6) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29).

    The 3rd accused person, Irene Anti-Mensah, was charged with the offences of Abetment of crime namely Wilfully causing financial loss to the Republic contrary to sections 20(1) and 179A (3)(a) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 459), Abetment of crime namely defrauding by false pretence contrary to sections 20(1) and 131(1) of the Criminal Ofences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and Conspiracy to steal contrary to sections 23(1) and 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960(Act 29).

    The 5th accused person, Frank Aboagye Mensah, on the other hand was charged with the offences of Defrauding by false pretence contrary to section 131(1) of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29), Conspiracy to steal contrary to sections 23(1) and 124 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29), Stealing contrary to section 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and Money Laundering contrary to section 1(1)(c) of the Anti-Money laundering Act, 2008 (Act 749).

    Source: Starr FM

  • It didn’t make sense to continue supporting the collapsed banks – Bawumia

    Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says government had no option than to shut down some banks and financial institutions in the country.

    He said even though the situation is sad it didn’t make sense to continue supporting these banks that are suffering.

    “It was bad . . . when I saw the numbers at the time it was quite frightening,” he said.

    He said the banks were using the Central Bank’s liquidity support for other purposes.

    This follows claims that government could have used other means to save the banks and prevent the loss of jobs.

    The Vice President who was speaking in a one-on-one interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s morning show ‘kokrokoo’ said the then NDC administration was aware of the situation but did nothing about it and rather kept offering liquidity support.

    “The NDC was aware there was a problem . . . these were bad practices of government but we had to step in,” he stated.

    “By the time we got into office things were unraveling; we were on the brink of the collapse of the system so the BoG had to rescue the situation. This is one of the most important acts that have been done to save the economy.”

    Source: Peace FM

  • Some customers of defunct Banks receive locked-up funds

    Some customers of the defunct local banks in the Upper East Region who had their monies locked-up are being paid at two branches of the Consolidated Bank Ghana in the Bolgatanga Municipality.

    The customers had their monies locked-up as a result of the collapse of some indigenous banks and financial institutions by the Bank of Ghana, in a clean-up exercise of the financial sector, two years ago.

    Some of the customers who spoke to the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga said they received text messages from the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Receiver, on Wednesday, July 29th requesting them to visit any Consolidated Bank Ghana branch for payment of their validated claims.

    The majority of the beneficiaries who had their monies locked-up in the defunct First Allied Savings and Loans said the text messages provided an account number to each customer for payment of their monies.

    The payment which commenced on Monday, August 3, halted on Tuesday which was a public holiday but continued simultaneously on the working days at the two Consolidated Bank branches in the Upper East Regional capital, Bolgatanga.

    Mr Emmanuel Adongo, a businessman resident at Zaare, a suburb of Bolgatanga, said he heaved a sigh of relief after receiving the total amount of his money that got locked-up.

    “For close to two years, my business grounded to a halt because of the money which I invested in the bank and it got locked-up. I became traumatized because there was no hope that I could get the money back”.

    A trader at the Bolgatanga New Market, Madam Mabel Aberinga who could not hide her joy, thanked the government for the intervention.

    “I had a savings account with the First Savings and Loans, so, all my savings were kept there. I least expected the bank will collapse. The situation affected my trading but with this money in my hand now, things will come back to normal”, she said.

    It is not clear if all the customers, whom the Receiver validated, received the total sum of their lock-up funds but the few that spoke to the GNA said they had received all of their monies that got locked-up.

    Even though Managers of the Consolidated Bank Ghana, Bolgatanga branches, refused to speak to the media, checks by GNA revealed that the two banks each paid up to 100 customers in a day.

    Some of the customers said they retained the account numbers opened for them by the Receiver and had part of their money saved at the Consolidated Bank, Ghana.

    Source: GNA

  • We did not conspire with BoG to collapse Ghanaian banks – Ofori-Atta

    The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta says government did not to conspire with the Central bank, the Bank of Ghana (BoG), to collapse some indigenous Ghanaian banks that were affected in the financial sector clean-up exercise.

    According to him, government has no time and energy to collapse Ghanaian banks, urging the people who hold the view that the government conspired with the Central Bank to deliberately collapse some Ghanaian banks to speak the truth.

    He said as of the time the current government took over power from the then governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), all the collapsed banks “were totally insolvent” due to mismanagement which was happening in the financial sector.

    Mr Ofori-Atta, who was presenting the mid-year budget today [Thursday, July 23, 2020] at Parliament, said the government was only interested in fixing the broken economy they inherited.

    “As a serious government as we are, and as patriotic as we are, we absolutely have no time, no energy, to conspire with the central bank to deliberately collapse Ghanaian banks,” he said.

    He explained that as a result of mismanagement in the banking sector, funds of depositors have been locked up with no hope of such depositors accessing their funds.

    Mr Ofori-Atta said what the government did in the banking sector was a usual practice in the banking sector globally, and that the exercise was aimed at straightening the banking sector and boosting the confidence of customers.

     

    Source: Graphic.com.gh

  • Settle customers of collapsed financial institutions with ESLA fund Terkper

    A former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, believes the Akufo-Addo has no excuse for not paying customers of the collapsed financial institutions because of the opportunities afforded by the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) fund.

    According to him, the Energy Sector Levy was expected to generate GHS28 billion by 2022.

    On Eyewitness News, he argued that this could be used to settle the aggrieved customers, in line with a promise by President Akufo-Addo.

    “If we are talking about the payment of GHS5 billion, GHS10 billion or even up to GHS 15 billion or even GHS20 billion, there should be enough money in the ESLA fund to have paid the depositors their full amount.”

    “The question is where did the money go,” Mr. Terkper added.

    He was speaking after former President John Mahama had accused President Akufo-Addo of reneging on his promise to the aggrieved depositors because some of them are not getting their full deposits back immediately.

    Mr. Terkper said the Mahama administration used funds from the Energy Sector Levy to bolster the financial sector.

    “Therefore it is erroneous to give the impression that the former administration did not do much about the financial sector situation.”

    He recalled that there was some restructuring in 2016 by NDC costing GHS2.2 billion as well as an injection of GHS250 million.

    “It was negotiated directly with the banks and for all that we know, no haircuts were made to depositors.”

    The financial sector clean-up commenced by the Akufo-Addo administration in August 2017, has led to the collapse of nine universal banks, 347 microfinance companies, 39 microcredit companies or money lenders, 15 savings and loans companies, eight finance house companies, and two non-bank financial institutions.

     

    Source: citinewsroom 

  • Capital Bank collapse: Ato Essien willing to refund GH¢27.5million to the state

    Lawyers of Willaim Ato Essien, the founder of the defunct Capital Bank, who is standing trial for allegedly collapsing the bank, has told the Accra High Court that their client is willing to refund GH¢27.5 million back to the state.

    The amount is what the state has accused Essien of using as business promotion and which he allegedly carried in jute bags to be distributed to some people.

    Counsel for Essien, Mr Baffour Gyewu Bonsu told the court Thursday that his client had already paid GH¢1.4 million of the GH¢27.5 million to the state, reports Graphic Online’s court reporter, Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson.

    He said discussions were still ongoing with the prosecution and therefore the court should adjourn the case to enable the discussions to continue.

    Proposal

    The prosecutor, Mrs Mariana Appiah Oppong, a Chief State Attorney, confirmed to the court that lawyers for Essien had indeed informed her about their intention to pay the amount.

    She, however, said the lawyers must bring a detailed proposal to the Director for Public Prosecution (DPP) and after a review the DPP would make a determination to accept it or not.

    The court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei-Baffour, therefore, gave the lawyers for Essien one month to send the proposal to the DPP.

    Hearing will continue on June 18, 2020 during which the prosecution is expected to report to the court whether or not it had accepted the proposal.

     

    more to follow…

     

    Source: Graphic.com.gh 

     

  • Customers of collapsed fund management companies to bark at Akufo-Addo with demo

    Aggrieved customers of the defunct Fund Management Companies (FMCs) have promised to hold a demonstration against the Akufo-Addo-led government over their seeming nonchalance about their locked-up cash.

    The coalition has served a notice that they will hit the streets of Kinbu in Accra on Tuesday, March 24, 2020.

    The customers feel side-lined by government who they say is only paying depositors of locked up banks, microfinance and saving and loans companies after both parties were caught up in the financial sector clean-up last year.

    Declaring their intentions to embark on a demonstration in Kumasi, Spokesperson for the 53 fund management companies, Charles Nyame bemoaned that “if the Nana Addo led administration really cares about the suffering customers then it should put measures to fix this situation before March 24, 2020”.

    “The question those of us in the fund management sector are asking is that was it our fault to invest in a legitimate business being regulated by Securities and Exchange Commission?” he quizzed.

    They are however looking forward to government to disburse funds to various FMCs for ‘suffering’ customers to have their monies back.

    The Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2019 revoked the operating licenses of 53 fund management companies over breach of requirements and failure to perform their functions efficiently.

    Meanwhile, government, through the Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG) has so far settled a total of 13,675 customers of collapsed banks, microfinance and savings and loans companies as at the end of last month.

    Source: www.ghanaweb.co

  • Well turn Ghana upside down Angry customers of collapsed financial institutions

    Some aggrieved customers of collapsed financial institutions in Ghana who are yet to retrieve their funds have threatened to destabilize the country even if part of their funds are paid.

    They are demanding full payment of their locked-up funds. Anything short of that, they note, will leave them with no other option than to turn the country upside down even if that will cost them their lives.

    Banking cleanup: Go beyond talk, pay customers Mahama to govt

    “We will only get part of our investment…that is to hell! It can never happen. Otherwise, we are going to turn the country outside down. One by one, we will die and they will bury us. They will bury us. So they should prepare coffins, as many as possible,” one of them warned on behalf of the rest in an interview he granted Joy Fm monitored by MyNewsGh.com.

    Government, through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently the licenses of 53 fund managers because of insolvency.

    As part of what regulators of the financial space call a clean-up of the sector, many banks, savings and loans companies, microfinance institutions, fund managers among others have had their licenses revoked for various breaches of the laws governing them.

    Source: mynewsgh.com