BoG license revocations: Woman wails uncontrollably over locked up funds

A customer of the Women’s World Banking Savings and Loans Limited, one of the 23 savings and loans companies whose licence has been revoked by the Bank of Ghana broke down in tears at the Madina branch Monday morning

The inconsolable middle-aged mother of four narrating reasons behind her action said, she was not aware of the announcement by the central bank as her only intention of coming to the bank was to withdraw money in order to pay admission fees for her son, who has gained admission to the University of Ghana.

“My son told me he has gained admission so I had planned on going to work and then come by later in the day to withdraw money, as I was passing by I realised people have amassed here, when I inquired I was told government has asked them to cease operations.” She said.

On how long she has been saving and how much she has locked up, the hawker and menial labourer said, she started working with the institution five years ago and has funds of around GHC10,000.00 with the institution with some of the money invested in treasury bills.

The mother was one of the many who thronged the premises of Women’s World Banking Savings and Loans to withdraw their deposited monies following the revocation of the company's license.

Background

On May 31, 2019, BoG revoked the licenses of 347 institutions and 39 microcredit institutions operating in the country. Some of these affected banks resorted to merging hence, the functioning of the Consolidated Bank Ghana limited.

So far, a total of 420 financial institutions have been insolvent and have had their licenses revoked.

BoG in the statement explained that the actions “were taken pursuant to Section 123 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930), which requires the Bank of Ghana to revoke the licence of a Bank or Specialised Deposit-Taking Institution (SDI) where the Bank of Ghana determines that the institution is insolvent. The Bank of Ghana has also appointed Mr Eric Nipah as a Receiver for the specified institutions in line with section 123 (2) of Act 930.”

The central bank in a statement Friday indicated that, revocation of the licences of these 23 institutions has become necessary because they were insolvent even after a reasonable period was granted them hoping they would be recapitalized by their shareholders to return them to solvency.

However, BoG has provided funds for the 23 finance houses, savings and loans companies whose license have been revoked to pay affected customers.