BoG, Bawumia, Ofori-Atta killing local banks with 'slow poison' – Adongo

Bolgatanga Central MP Isaac Adongo has accused Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia; Governor of the Central Bank Dr Ernest Addison and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, of administering “slow poison” to some local banks they see as rivals to Mr Ofori-Atta’s Databank.

Mr Adongo, who is also a member of parliament’s Finance Committee, made the comment on Class91.3FM’s 5O5 news programme hosted by Valentina Ofori Afriyie on Wednesday, 1 August, following the announcement by the Bank of Ghana that it had merged five local banks into a Consolidated Bank.

Governor Dr Ernest Addison said the merger of The Royal Bank, BEIGE Bank, Sovereign Bank, Construction Bank and uniBank, was part of moves to streamline the financial sector.

Dr Addison said government is dedicating a GHS450 million as minimum capital for the new bank.

However, Mr Adongo described the move as an “administration in disguise”.

He said: “Bank of Ghana, just as the government has been, has been very dishonest with the people of Ghana.

“Let me tell you emphatically that what has happened is an administration in disguise with an announcement of the fiscal cost. In other words, how much taxpayers must pay to dissolve these banks?



“[This is] disguised as a consolidated measure and nothing else. What has just happened is a culmination of regulatory collaboration between the Securities and Exchanges Commission and the Bank of Ghana to bring major players of local content in the banking sector on their knees and that is exactly what has happened.



“Only last two months, the Securities and Exchanges Commission issued a directive asking all funding management companies to wind down their investments in six months. At the time, BEIGE Bank had GHS2 billion of those funds. You now put a rush on these fund management companies on Beige Bank and GHS1.5 billon leaves BEIGE Bank in one month, then you go in and say they don’t have liquidity. Which bank will survive a flight of GHS 1.5 billion of liquidity and still be solvent?”