The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has appealed to the
government to help customers of the defunct banks and savings and loans
companies recover their locked up monies.
According to the Bishops, although the revocation of licenses by the Central Bank is justified and was necessary to save Ghana’s financial sector, government’s utmost intervention is needed in funds recovery.
“To the extent that the exercise [financial sector clean up] is meant to protect depositors from losing their hard-earned monies, we commend the Central Bank.”
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The Bishops stated this in a communiqué containing
resolutions taken after the group’s annual plenary assembly.
“We are, however, concerned about many Ghanaians whose
monies have been locked up in these defunct institutions with no hope of
redeeming their investments and appeal to the government to help these people
recover their monies,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Bishops urged the government to “consciously protect indigenous financial institutions that are only starting, from being swallowed up by the big international and other powerful financial institutions”.
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The financial sector clean-up started 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, 8
finance house companies, and two non-bank financial institutions over issues of
maintaining the minimum capital requirement.
The most recent was the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s revocation of licenses of some 53 Fund Management Companies said to be managing a customer base of about 56,000 whose funds run in excess of GH¢8 billion.
