Receiver to begin payments to customers of defunct Savings and Loans, microfinance institutions on Monday - Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has stated that persons whose funds have been locked up in some defunct Savings and Loans companies and microfinance institutions will begin receiving their funds from Monday, February 24, 2020.

He said he had been informed by the Receiver of the Savings and Loans and the Microfinance institutions that the payments will total GH¢5 billion.

“I will like to repeat that all depositors of the savings and loans and Microfinance institutions including DKM which collapsed in 2015, will receive a 100% of their deposits once the validation exercise is concluded,” the President said during the State of the Nation Address today (February 20, 2020) in parliament.

“I am informed that the Receiver of the Savings and Loans and the Microfinance institutions will begin on Monday 24th February [2020], making payments to their customers, [with] these monies totalling GH¢5 billion being in addition to the GH¢13 billion being paid to the customers of the failed banks,” Akufo-Addo said.

The President said he was sure that lessons have been learnt regarding institutions which offer unrealistic interest rates, adding that "I do not think it would be possible to repeat this grand pay-out in another lifetime".

He also assured that all persons who were responsible for the financial sector challenges would be held to account.

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Collapse of 347 microfinance companies: Gh₵30 million worth of claims paid

Gh₵30 million worth of claims paid

As of August 2019, the Receiver of the 347 collapsed microfinance companies, Eric Nana Nipah, said he had paid close to about Gh₵30 million worth of claims to affected depositors.

According to him, he received close to 152,000 depositor claims worth about GH₵1.4 billion and that about 80,000 of the claims which amounted to about GH₵600 million had been validated.

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) in May 2019 revoked the licenses of 347 insolvent microfinance companies.

The licences of 192 of them were revoked in addition to that of another 155 that have ceased operations.

According to the BoG, the revocation of the licences of those institutions was to get rid of insolvent and dormant institutions that have no reasonable prospects of rehabilitation and have denied depositors access to their deposits, thereby constituting a threat to the stability of the financial system.