The Coalition of Aggrieved customers of Gold Coast Fund Management has made an appeal to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to guarantee full payment of their locked up investments.
The aggrieved customers say the capped amount of GHC10,000 to GHC20,000 as proposed by the Ministry of Finance for customers of locked up funds is unacceptable, considering the different levels of individual investments, which range from GHC50,000 to over GHC40 million.
“We consider the rational for the capped amount by government as improper since it does not address the urgent needs of all the various categories of investors, but rather will worsen the already deplorable plight of majority of the customers,” the Coalition said.
It would be recalled that, last year, President Akufo-Addo directed the Ministry of Finance to work with the Bank of Ghana to ensure a 100 per cent payment of depositors of failed banks, microfinance, and savings and loan companies whose licences were revoked.
The public relations officer for the Coalition, Charles Nyame, made the appeal at a news briefing in Accra.
Possible solution
He urged the government to arrange a meeting between the Finance Ministry, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and leadership of the customers to deliberate on the best possible solution for payment of their investments.
The PRO further called on SEC to ensure acknowledgement of receipts of validation to all customers who took part in the validation process since majority of the affected customers have not received receipts of validation.
This forms part of a directive from SEC in November 2019 asking customers of the collapsed fund management firms to visit CBG branches to validate their documents in order to receive payments.
According to that order, customers would in turn receive text messages showing them the processes to receive their monies once their documents were validated.
Threat
Mr Nyame said the Coalition has threatened a demonstration, should the government fail to heed to their demands, adding that all customers of other defunct fund management companies will join them to retrieve their monies.
Some of the aggrieved customers expressed worry about the delay in retrieving their monies, and called on the government to expedite action to avoid any untoward situation.
Madam Joyce Yeboah, an aggrieved customer of the bank, said her locked funds has affected her plans, adding she now finds it difficult to meet her business obligations.
Another customer, Mr Richmond Adjetey, appealed to the government to facilitate the processes to enable them retrieve their monies, saying the situation has led to the death of some customers, while others have suffered various kinds of illnesses.
Cleanup
The Bank of Ghana’s banking and financial sector cleanup was followed by the shutdown of some 386 microfinance and money lending institutions.
Subsequently, 23 non-bank financial institutions, made up of savings and loans companies and finance houses, also had their licences revoked over several regulatory breaches, including the inability to pay customers’ deposits.
