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Revocation of licenses of fund managers in clients’ interest – SEC

By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, Nov 12,
GNA – The Securities and Exchange Commission says its decision to revoke the
licences of 53 defaulting fund management companies is in the best interest of
their clients.

Mr Emmanuel
Ashong-Katai, Head, Policy Research and Information Technology, therefore,
urged the investors not to panic because the Commission’s mandate was to secure
investor protection.

“We are doing
all these for the purposes of investor protection. We are doing all these in
the interest of the investors, because we can’t sit back to allow investors to
suffer,” Mr Ashong-Katai stated in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, in
Accra.

“They (clients)
have invested and their investments have matured and they are not getting it
because of the bad business practices of those firms, whose licences that we
have revoked. We don’t want them to continue to suffer.”

He explained
that the Registrar-General would take the matter to the High Court for
permission to be granted for them to liquidate the defunct companies and
thereafter a liquidator would be appointed.

The liquidator
would then trace the assets of the defunct companies, including third party
assets; bringing all these assets together into a common pot.

These assets
would be disposed off (sold) and the revenues generated be used to pay the
investors.

“So, we are
begging them to keep their records intact, their statements, their receipts,
and everything intact, because that is what they will use to claim what belongs
to them,” he said.

Mr Ashong-Katai
said the Government had taken note of the plights of investors, and had decided
to commit certain a amount of money to pay them some cap amount.

“Every
investor, who is able to present their claims, will get certain amount from the
government.”

On how long
would it take for a liquidator to be appointed, Mr Ashong-Katai said the
Registrar-General would immediately appoint one as soon as the Court granted
the request  liquidation.

“In fact per
the timetable we have it shouldn’t be more than ten days. Within the next ten
days we hope that a liquidator will be appointed.  It can be earlier than that,” he said.

“But now we are
also working with Price Water House and Coopers. Maybe PWC may be the
liquidator. In fact, PWC has been earmarked to be appointed as the liquidator”.

He said the
Commission had the powers to secure the premises of the firms to ensure that
all records were kept intact; stating that the PWC Ghana had already moved in
to secure the premises first on their behalf.

Mr Ashong-Katai
said there were some fund management companies who were doing well in Ghana at
present.

 The good ones are more than 10, and the
Commission would soon publish their names.

“We have them
(good fund management companies) on record but because of these bad
nuts…everybody is tainted in the market.”

“Some of them
are very good, with very good liquidity and their capital base is solid; and
they don’t have problems at all paying claims”.

“We will
publish the names of those in good standing very soon so that the Ghanaian
public investors can have the confidence to work with them”.

The exercise
was, therefore, to separate the bad nuts from the good ones.

GNA

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