Banking crisis: I don’t blame customers for the panic withdrawals – Nduom

President of Groupe Nduom, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom says he does not blame customers who want their monies back from collapsed banks because there has not been a grassroot education on the need for them not to be afraid.

According to Dr Nduom, the assurances given by the Bank of Ghana and government that there will be no more banks collapsing anytime soon should be explained more to the ordinary Ghanaian so their faith in the financial institutions is restored.

“If the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Ghana, and other financial institutions take the education to the ground level, to our towns and villages, we will not have this panic withdrawals continue because it is going on and has gone on because people have been afraid. People don’t want to lose their monies and I don’t blame anyone who engages in it,” he noted.

He added that “they have said that they’re going to provide financial resources to support the indigenous banks that will need help in raising the GH¢400m minimum paid up capital that is required… they have also said they are going to be more diligent in ensuring that good governance prevails but the ordinary people are not hearing this”.

He said parliament can follow the footsteps of the United States of America by coming up with a bill passed to provide financial assistance to financial institutions that need help “so they can have the funds to be able to push into our communities”.

According to Dr Nduom, GN bank has taken the lead to educate its customers on what has caused the problem, the challenges and how to help curb the situation in an organized manner.

“It is not going to be solved in the next three months, it is going to take some time to get it resolved so anybody who promises anyone that next month everything will be done is not telling the truth, it will take some time,” he noted.

Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom last week led a team from GN Bank to appeal to customers of the bank to cease panic withdrawals that have hit the bank in recent times.

Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom noted that his bank is financially sound and the panic withdrawals would rather affect the bank.

He told traders that the panic withdrawals have kept him awake at night.

“I’ve had sleepless nights for the past few weeks because of the panic withdrawals,” he lamented.