SEC pays GH¢768.26 million in validated claims

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has paid GH¢768.26 million to 6,916 claimants who signed up for the full bailout programme as of March 31, 2021.

This represents 83 percent of the total number of claimants paid out of the signups done and 78 percent of the total value paid out of examined claims.

Reverend Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, Director-General of SEC, said 6,349 individuals were paid GH¢409.29 million, while 562 Corporates and Institutions received GH¢358.68 million.

Rev Ogbarmey was speaking at a media briefing to update the media and clients of defunct Fund Management Companies (FMC) on the bailout implementation programme.

He said for the partial bailout, a total of 64,685 out of 89,233 claimants had signed up for the programme by executing the assignment and subscription agreement as of March 31, 2021, representing 72 percent.

The Director-General said the actual payments made under the partial bailout programme as of March 31, 2021, stood at GH¢995million to 52,264 claimants, representing 81 percent of total claimants and 83 percent of the total corresponding partial bailout value.

"The number of clients who have been fully settled under this programme is around a total of 42,945 claimants as of March 31, 2021," he added.

So far, 51,143 Individuals were paid an amount of GH¢959,57 million, while 1,121 Corporates and Institutions were paid an amount of GH¢34.93 million.

He said there were less than a quarter of the liquidation petitions outstanding and commended the Official Liquidator and the Courts.

Rev. Ogbarmey said the next update would be provided at the end of the second quarter.

"For the claimants with validated claims in excess of the GH¢50,000 threshold, please be assured that the full bailout package will be triggered when the liquidation orders are granted," he said.

He urged the investors to avoid the use of middlemen or facilitators to secure payout of the bailout.

Rev Ogbarmey, assured all affected clients that the government had made provision to cover all validated claims with the recent additional allocation in the 2021 National Budget Statement to support the clean-up exercise in the asset management industry.

"There is no need for any affected client to panic because of the protracted court liquidation process," he added.

Rev Ogbarmey expressed appreciation to the government for the provision of GH¢5.5 billion in the 2021 National Budget Statement, which was recently approved by Parliament to complete the Asset Management Industry Cleanup Exercise.

The Director-General said the provision further demonstrated the government’s profound commitment to strengthening the securities market in realising its potential as an essential driver for economic growth and development.

He appealed to all affected clients to patiently follow through with all relevant processes to redeem their claims and to rely only on information provided by the SEC and the Official Liquidator.

The courts had granted 37 liquidation orders to the Official Liquidator (The Registrar-General) as of March 31, 2021, out of the 47 FMCs with claims from investors after the revocation.

Virtual Creditor and Class meetings were held by the Official Liquidator for clients of 34 of these companies.

The remaining 10 Companies have their liquidation petitions currently pending before the High Court for hearing.

As of March 31, 2021, out of a total of 100,898 claims received against 47 Companies valued at GH¢11.70 billion, a total of 100,700 claims valued at GH¢ 8.314 billion have so far been validated.

This means that an estimated 99.8 percent of the total claims filed were validated with almost 30 percent found to be unwarranted.

Claimants who disagree with validated amounts are engaging the agent of the SEC for further examination.