Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh

Menzgold customers cannot be included in government’s bailout fund - SEC

Graphic.com.gh Sep - 15 - 2020 , 12:41 2 minutes read

The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected a request by the Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold Ghana (CACM) to be included in the government’s bailout fund set up to pay locked up funds of depositors of collapsed financial companies.

The Commission, in response to the request, said that the target of the bailout was clearly defined and did not cover Menzgold customers.

“The SEC has noted with concern the plight of customers of Menzgold due to the company’s failure to return client’s funds. Unfortunately, your request for inclusion cannot be acceded to because the target of the bailout is clearly defined and does not cover Menzgold customers,” it said in a statement signed by the Director-General of SEC, Reverend Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, and addressed to the Chairman of the Coalition, Mr. Isaac Nyarko.

It added that: “the SEC was implementing the bailout provided for in the Mid-Year Review of the Budget Statement and Economy Policy of the Government of Ghana and Supplementary Estimate for the 2020 Financial Year Section 239 of the Budget Statement approved by Parliament was very specific.”

It also noted that Menzgold was not an asset management company regulated by the SEC.

Government’s bailout

Menzgold customers made the request after the SEC had announced that clients of collapsed fund management companies will start receiving their locked up funds before the end of the year.

The decision, according to the industry regulator, followed a relief granted the Official Liquidator, the Registrar General, to liquidate 22 fund management companies (FMCs) whose licenses the SEC revoked in November last year.

It said that the 22 are part of the 50 FMCs whose licences were revoked “due to their inability to return clients’ funds, totaling GH¢8 billion, and significant breaches of applicable rules that created risks to financial stability”, according to the SEC.

Read the statement below: