'Funds available to pay customers of collapsed 23 savings and loans, finance houses'

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has given the assurance that funds are available to pay depositors of the 23 savings and loans companies and finance house companies that have been shut down.

“In line with the Government’s commitment to protect depositors’ funds, the Government has made funds available to enable the Receiver pay depositors after their claims are validated. The Receiver will in due course make an announcement with regards to when and where payments will be made,” a statement issued on Friday by the BoG said.

It said the Receiver, Eric Nipah would make known documents required from the affected depositors to facilitate the validation of claims and orderly payment of validated deposits.

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The BoG revoked the licences of the 23 companies because they were highly insolvent.

The BoG also revoked the licences of two nonbank financial institutions, namely Express Funds International Ltd (remittance company) and Ghana Leasing Company Ltd (leasing company).

According to the BoG, the two entities have been insolvent and have been inactive for a number of years.

“This action is pursuant to Section 7 of the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Act, 2008 (Act 774), which mandates the Bank of Ghana to revoke the licence of a non-bank financial institution licensed under that Act if that institution among other things ceases to carry on business,” it said.

Thus, the BoG says it has completed the clean-up of the banking, specialized deposit-taking (SDI), and non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) sectors which began in August 2017.

“This follows the revocation of the licences of nine (9) universal banks, 347 microfinance companies (of which 155 had already ceased operations), 39 micro credit companies/money lenders (10 of which had already ceased operations), 15 savings and loans companies, eight (8) finance house companies, and two (2) non-bank financial institutions that had already ceased operations,” it said.