BoG lied; no 70 offices shut down, no top bosses sacked – GN

Groupe Nduom, the parent company of GN Savings and Loans, whose licence was revoked recently by the Bank of Ghana, has described as false, assertions by the central bank that it has shut down some offices and sacked top management staff.

Explaining why GN Savings and Loans had its licence revoked, BoG stated: “GN has suspended operations in seventy (70) of its branches including the Head office branch at Asylum Down and Castle Road branch, and temporarily suspended its entire management team without the approval of the Bank of Ghana contrary to section 25 (2) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930), mainly as a result of its insolvency and liquidity challenges”.

However, the group replied in an emphatic press statement signed by its Corporate Affairs Manager, Frank Owusu-Ofori, on Wednesday, 21 August 2019, that: “GN Savings has not sacked its top management staff. As of Friday afternoon, that team was still at post. The BoG as a regulator must not make important decisions based on hearsay. We challenge BoG to produce the said termination letters. The Chairman of the Board of Directors in a letter written to BSD promised to deliver a new organization structure befitting the status of a Savings and loans company”.

It added: “GN Savings has not closed 70 offices. Rather, the company wrote several weeks ago to BSD for approval to temporarily suspend operations in a number of offices to reduce cost during the business revival period. BSD has till today not responded to this request”.

GN Savings and Loans said it has come up with new ideas that have caused its business to begin a sustained revival with thousands of customers making new deposits and enjoying unrestricted withdrawals and questioned why the BoG would revoke the licence of such a company.

Meanwhile, GN has stated that the only option left for the savings and loans company in seeking redress is to head to the court since dialogue with the regulator has not yielded much result.

“It appears that our only option is to pursue this case in the court of law – negotiating with the Bank of Ghana in good faith has yielded less than desirable results,” the statement noted.