Lift the veil on Ghana Amalgamated Trust shareholders – Mahama to Akufo-Addo

Former President John Dramani Mahama wants government to come clean on the Ghana Amalgamated Trust, created to rescue struggling local banks.

He called on the government to lift the veil on the beneficial owners of the Ghana Amalgamated Trust.

The GAT which consists of some private pension funds in the country, has been put in place to support five banks that failed to meet the GHc400 million capital requirement but were deemed solvent.

The five banks were: ADB, NIB, merged Omni/Bank Sahel Sahara, Universal Merchant Bank, and Prudential Bank

Mr Mahama’s comment follows the Bank of Ghana revocation of the licenses of 23 savings and loans companies on Friday, 16th August, 2019.

This comes on the heels of a similar action a year ago when the regulator in 2018 ordered a purchase and assumption agreement that saw GCB Bank subsumed UT and Capital Banks. Five other banks were closed down completely in their stead, forming Consolidated Bank Ghana.

Mr Mahama, in his maiden live Facebook encounter, slammed the New Patriotic Party government for choosing a chaotic path in addressing the challenges in the financial sector.

According to him, the state could have considered alternatives that could have reduced the burden and despondency that have afflicted customers and employees of financial institutions.

“Was the revocation the best option at this circumstance or there was no option? Our central bank chose the chaotic situation with accompanying huge debt where the government has no clue on how to clear it. Revocation of licenses would have been the last resort and not the first resort. No country is immune to crisis in the financial sector,”” he said.