BoG’s credibility dented by ruling on revocation of uniCredit’s license

Finance Journalist Toma Imihere is worried about the reputation of the Bank of Ghana after its decision to revoke the license of uniCredit Ghana Limited was overturned by the Court of Appeal on Thursday, July 7, 2022.

“It is a dent on the Bank of Ghana’s credibility because it means they did not adopt due process,” he told Umaru Amadu Sanda on Eyewitness News.

uniCredit was among the 23 insolvent savings and loans companies and finance houses that had their licenses revoked in 2019.

Mr. Imihere remains sceptical that uniCredit will have the resources to leverage the court’s decision to resume its financial services.

“We are in totally uncharted territory. At this stage, I don’t think financial analysts can predict what will come next. This is more of a legal tussle about due process.”

Also speaking on Eyewitness News, Kwasi Adu Mantey, the lawyer for, Hoda Holdings Limited, the mother company of UniCredit, noted that it would be challenging to take the Bank of Ghana on after judgement.

“In a regulated industry, taking Bank of Ghana to court is not a simple thing because the Bank of Ghana has a lot of power to do a lot of things,” Mr. Mantey said.

“So it would depend on exactly what uniCredit would want Bank of Ghana to do for them now and if Bank of Ghana refuses to do so then they will go ahead and do whatever they have to do,” the lawyer added.

Hoda Holdings Limited first tried unsuccessfully to stop the Bank of Ghana from revoking its licence.

In 2020, a High Court dismissed a Judicial Review application filed by Hoda Holding challenging the revocation.

HODA Holdings eventually found success when it proceeded to the Court of Appeal, culminating in the ruling on Thursday.