Akufo-Addo didn’t collapse banks, he saved them – Kennedy Agyapong

Member of Parliament (MP), for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong has said that the greatest achievement of the President Akufo-Addo led government has been the consolidation of some seven (7) banks in 2018.

The legislator vehemently opposed the idea that the President collapsed the banks. “You can never collapse something and join them back together”, he said.

He mentioned this in an interview on Happy98.9FM’s, Epa Hoa Daben with host, Afrifa-Mensah.

On his authority, he mentioned that “saying the President collapsed the banks means that he destroyed them and customers lost their monies but it never happened that way”.

He disclosed that, over 4.6million depositors could have lost all their money but government had to invest GHc 18billion to support the banks and save the investment of Ghanaians.

“The President and the Minister of Finance did well with regard to consolidating the banks. They should be applauded for that,” he said.

The Bank of Ghana earlier in August 2018 revoked the licenses of five struggling banks and merged them into one and named it Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG).

The affected banks included uniBank, Sovereign Bank, Construction Bank, Royal Bank, and Beige Bank.

Heritage Bank and Premium Bank were added in January 2019.

CBG was established to salvage depositors’ funds and to manage the aftermath of the banking sector shake-up.

The Central Bank explained that some of the affected banks obtained their licenses using dubious means and had non-existent capital, adding that whereas some breached cash reserve requirement, others had their shareholders engaging in supposed dubious transactions.