Locked up funds: GH¢5.06bn has been paid to depositors - Oppong Nkrumah

Legitimate claims made to depositors of Savings & Loans and Micro Credit institutions whose funds were locked up due to the financial sector clean-up is at GH¢5.06 billion, the Information Minister has said.

According to him, GH¢2.11 billion in cash has so far been paid to depositors with about GH¢2.95 billion in zero-rated coupon bonds known as debt instruments has also been paid.

Speaking at the Minister’s press briefing in Accra on May 7, Oppong Nkrumah said depositors are expected to receive payments after validation of claims by the end of May, 2020.

“Now based on total cash payments to be made by the end of the depositor payment exercise, it is expected that a population of individual depositors numbering about 297,000 whose claims have been validated and accepted in the resolution of the aforementioned groups of companies and ultimately not less than 290,000, that is about 98% in number of individual payments, will be fully paid in cash,” Oppong Nkrumah said.

“They want to conclude the final second level validation of GH¢340 million and make payment accordingly. They expect that by the end of May they should be done with that one,” he indicated.

The Information Minister explained; “The remaining 2% of individual depositor claims will be paid by a combination of cash and bonds. So here are the next steps of payments. They are first of all concluding the depositor payments process and the key next step to be undertaken include the conclusion of the final second validation of that 340 million, and payments made accordingly. They expect that by the end of May we would be done with that one,” he added.

“They are some organisations whose books and records still have challenges and they are processing those for some investigations. And finally, they will issue a report to the Bank of Ghana on the depositor payment”, Oppong Nkrumah added.

Earlier, the Receiver for the collapsed Savings & Loans and Micro Credit institutions, Eric Nana Nipah said about 290,000 customers, representing 98 percent of individual depositors will be paid fully in cash, whilst the remaining 2 percent will receive their payments in cash and bonds.

As part of efforts aimed at cleaning the financial sector, the Bank of Ghana revoked the licenses of 347 microfinance companies and 23 savings and loans companies.