We owe the collapsed banks no apologies - Ken Ofori-Atta

Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta says the Government of Ghana has no regrets over the collapse of some financial institutions in the country.

Following a move by the Central Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), fifty-three (53) fund management companies and over twenty banks, as well as Savings and Loans companies, had their licences revoked over issues of financial mismanagement and unfair treatment of their customers.

Banks like the uniBank, GN Bank, Heritage Bank, Sovereign Bank Limited and Capital Bank among others were taken over by the Central Bank.

Five of the insolvent banks namely The Royal Bank, Beige Bank, Sovereign Bank Limited, Construction Bank and Unibank were amalgamated into a Consolidated Bank Ghana which is chiefly owned by the State.

Speaking in an interview with host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Hon. Ofori-Atta sent no apologies to the collapsed banks.

According to him, he believes in the banking reforms by the financial authorities resulting in the revocation of the licences of the banks.

Responding to accusations of wrongdoing on the part of the government regarding the banks, the Finance Minister said he doesn't expect every Ghanaian or opposition political party members to like him or the government for doing the right thing.



He proverbially stated to get the right thing done, there need to be sacrifices; hence the financial authorities need to make the hard call to salvage the financial sector in order to achieve a robust economy.

''To everything, there is a possibility to have done something much better than you did but rarely, honestly, no apologies. The situation we came to meet was already before the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance that the asset quality review was clear that these banks were going to collapse...It was before them for about one and a half years.

''For instance, when going for war, you know, a few soldiers will go to die for the 30 million people. So, by all means, there will be some sacrifice and then there will be some burden-sharing. And if you look at 4.6 million depositors whose money has been saved and a few may be more than wealthy people are siphoning certain things, I don't know that's the cost of leadership. [You know], how do you save the community over one or two individuals. It's a hardcore; so people, those who don't even know the issues, will say things against us...'', he said.