Locked-up Investment Holders’ Forum resume Ministry of Finance picketing today

The Locked-up Investment Holders' Forum, led by Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, is resuming its picketing Wednesday, June 5, 2024.

This action comes as a result of the unfulfilled promise by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Stephen Amoah, to meet with the group after his return from a trip on May 27, 2024. Despite text and WhatsApp message reminders, Dr. Anane Antwi reports no response from the deputy minister.

Consequently, the group has decided to resume picketing the Ministry, a method they have employed over the past year.

In March this year, the forum announced plans to stage a series of public protests aimed at pressuring the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to address concerns regarding locked-up investments.

At a press conference in Accra on Monday, 25 March 2024, Dr. Anane Antwi expressed frustration over the perceived ineffectiveness of previous petitions to the BoG, necessitating sustained demonstrations.

"Given the BoG's failure to take action to address our locked-up investments, we are compelled to escalate our demands through public protests," Dr. Antwi stated.

"These protests will commence on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, and will continue every two weeks until the end of November 2024, unless positive outcomes result from engagements with the authorities."

Dr. Antwi, at the time, outlined the Forum's intentions to march to the BoG to meet with the governor and demand immediate action on their proposals to facilitate the release of their funds.

Please find the group's full March press statement below:

The Locked-up Investment Holders Forum is a collective established to protect the investments of individuals and institutions with funds in Finance Houses and Savings & Loans Companies (FHSLs) licensed by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), who are currently unable to access their investments. The forum acts as the voice for the thousands with investments locked up in FHSLs.

On 2 May 2023, we petitioned the BoG to intervene and enable us to access our funds from some FHSLs licensed by the BoG, which had been unable to meet the interest and principal payment demands of their customers for approximately three years at that time. We highlighted to the BoG that these FHSLs attributed their inability to meet customer demands primarily to the following factors:

• Decreased patronage of their services due to a loss of confidence in the banking and financial services sector following the banking clean-up exercise.

• Unprecedented withdrawals at the onset of the clean-up exercise, effectively creating a run on their operations.

• The inability of their loan customers to service their loan facilities due to the general deterioration of the macro-economic environment in the country and the impacts of COVID-19 on their businesses.

• Undue delays in the judicial processes encountered in the courts, which frustrate their loan recovery efforts.

• The refusal of Receivers of collapsed financial institutions to make payments against their validated claims.

• Their inability to receive liquidity support from the BoG, which, according to the BoG, is due to existing industry laws, considered discriminatory by the FHSLs.

• The government's failure to make payments against loans granted to government contractors, evidenced by their Interim Payment Certificates.

We pointed out to the BoG that many pensioners and sick individuals, who previously received periodic interest on their investments from these FHSLs for essential expenses such as medicines and daily living costs, have been unable to access their investments for these critical needs. It is distressing to note that some of these pensioners and sick individuals have passed away without being able to use their investments for their health care.

Additionally, families of some deceased investors, despite obtaining Letters of Administration or Probate, have been unsuccessful in accessing the locked-up funds to finance burial or funeral expenses. We also informed the BoG that others who invested with specific objectives, such as paying for school fees, rent, medical bills, utilities, or acquiring necessary assets, have been unable to fulfill their goals. This situation discourages investment in the Ghanaian financial market.

In our petition, we noted that when customers of some banks, microfinance institutions, and FHSLs faced similar challenges in 2017-2018, the BoG intervened to settle the deposits and investments of the affected institutions' customers. We believe we are entitled to and should receive the same treatment.

Therefore, we requested the BoG to take immediate steps to secure our 'locked-up' investments with the affected FHSLs, enabling us to access our funds. We also sent copies of our petition to various institutions, seeking their support and intervention for our cause, including:

• H.E. The President

• The Speaker of Parliament

• The Hon. Minister of Finance

• The Chairman, Council of State

• The President, National House of Chiefs

• The Chairman, Christian Council of Ghana

• The President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference

• The Chairman, Pentecostal & Charismatic Council

• The National Chief Imam, Muslim Council

• The Chairman, National Peace Council

• All Press Houses

Disappointingly, the BoG refused to acknowledge our petition, prompting us to send a reminder letter on 15 June 2023. We emphasized in our reminder that financial stability is a key objective of the IMF Programme and advised that the IMF and BoG should recognize that stability in the Ghanaian financial market is unattainable when investors' funds are locked up.

In our reminder, we suggested the following resolutions to the BoG for the locked-up funds issue:

a) The BoG must provide liquidity support to the affected FHSLs to enable them to meet the withdrawal demands of their customers.

b) The BoG must engage the Ministry of Finance and relevant development partners to use part of the Financial Stability Fund to provide liquidity support to the affected FHSLs.

The BoG responded to our reminder and met with us on 26 July 2023 to discuss our concerns. At the meeting, the BoG assured the Forum that it was considering our petition and preferred to address the issues holistically, ensuring all affected customers, including members of the Forum, would be equitably catered for. The BoG also indicated that, per the law, liquidity support is administered to institutions without solvency challenges. However, with the support of the government, the BoG committed to expeditiously addressing the situation and promised to keep us regularly informed of progress.

After waiting over three months post-meeting without any communication from the BoG, we wrote to the BoG on 2 October 2023, expressing our concern over the lack of urgency to resolve our locked-up funds. On 31 October 2023, the BoG responded to our letter, informing us that it continues to assess the relevant institutions and will update the Forum on appropriate actions. The BoG further assured us that it was seriously working on the issues we raised and would revert to the Forum with the understanding it has reached with the Ministry of Finance regarding possible funding arrangements.

On 16 November 2023, we submitted a proposal to the BoG titled "Proposals to Resolve the Current Challenges Facing Distressed Finance Houses and Savings & Loans Companies to Pay their Depositors" for the Bank's consideration. Our proposed approach was based on our belief that one of the following resolutions would be adopted for the distressed FHSLs:

i. Provision of liquidity support to the distressed FHSLs and restructuring them.

ii. Revoking the licenses of the distressed FHSLs and paying investors their deposits.

We provided detailed suggestions for implementing these two proposed approaches.

Disappointingly, the BoG did not acknowledge receipt of our proposal after three months, nor did it begin to act on it, forcing us to send a reminder letter on 16 February 2024, which has also not been acknowledged to date.

We have sadly come to realize that the BoG is not showing concern for investors in the distressed FHSLs. We regretfully note that the BoG has neglected its regulatory responsibilities to investors in these affected FHSLs, causing us undue financial hardship, with some of our members, especially pensioners and the sick, dying as a result of not having access to their investments for health care. Our confidence in the BoG as an institution capable of regulating the FHSLs sector of the financial market and protecting investors is gradually diminishing. The BoG's behavior suggests a lack of recognition that a financial market cannot exist without investors.

We have always maintained that we will undertake all legitimate actions to ensure the BoG works to return our 'locked-up' investments. Since the BoG has refused to act, we are going to embark on public protests to further press home our demands.

The public protests will begin on Wednesday, 27 March 2024, and will be held every two weeks until the end of November 2024. We will march to the BoG to meet the Governor and demand immediate action on the proposals we have submitted. We will also march to the Ministry of Finance to meet the Minister and demand that he advises and ensures the BoG takes immediate steps to work on the proposals.

We count on the support of the press to inform the public of our planned protests, cover the protests, and provide extensive publicity.

Thank you.

SIGNED

DR. ADU A. ANTWI, FCA, ESQ.

CONVENER

(TEL. NO. 0244089172)

PRESS STATEMENT