Parliament to engage BoG over exit package for ex-bankers

Parliament is to engage the Bank of Ghana over payment of severance packages to about 3,000 ex-workers of defunct Capital, UniBank, Sovereign, Construction and Beige Banks.

Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, told the B&FT that: “If you go into the law, it will take some more time before these severance packages are paid, but we have an opportunity to engage the Bank of Ghana and some of these will be fast-tracked.

“It has been a year since some of these workers were laid-off, and I think it is about time those severance packages were given them.”

PwC is the joint receiver for UT and Capital Banks, while KPMG is receiver for the five banks comprising Biege, Unibank, Construction, Royal, and Sovereign.

By the law, Act 930 of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, the receivers are accountable to the Bank of Ghana in its functions, Dr. Assibey-Yeboah noted.

“They don’t report to us, but because it is a matter like employee severance where there are so many people involved, we want to know when former workers of UT and Capital Bank will get their severance package,” he said.

The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu also expressed concern about the loss of jobs and whether the banks have capacity to pay severance awards to affected persons.

“What happens to the children and wards of affected persons as school reopens; what is it that the government of Ghana can do to find new life for those institutions as much as possible? Don’t forget that the US did it when they had their financial crisis; the state came in. Let’s see when the state of Ghana will come in. I generally do not think that we have handled this matter properly,” he added.

Parliament’s Finance Committee has begun a hearing into the banking crisis and already met with the Bank of Ghana and Ministry of Finance officials. KPMG, PwC and Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited officials met the fact-finding committee yesterday.

The National Insurance Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission are expected to take their turn today.

On August 1st, 2018, the BoG announced the revocation of five banks’ licences – uniBank, Sovereign, Construction, Beige and Royal Banks – and subsequently transferred all deposits, selected assets and liabilities of those banks to a newly-created entity: Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited.