Receiver to pay outstanding locked up funds after 2nd level validation in May – Gov’t

Government says the receiver of the defunct Microfinance companies and savings and loans firms is set to complete a second level of validation processes to pay all affected customers whose funds were locked up after the Bank of Ghana revoked the licenses of the institutions.

This follows an initial validation and payment of some 5 billion cedis to customers.

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.

Speaking at a press briefing, the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the second level of validation process will be completed by end of May for payment to commence.

“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,” he said.

“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.

He further noted that there are some organizations whose books and records still have challenges, and so there are processing rules for some further investigations.

The financial sector clean-up, commenced by the Akufo-Addo administration in August 2017, led to the collapse of nine universal banks, 347 microfinance companies, 39 microcredit companies or money lenders, 15 savings and loans companies, eight finance house companies, two non-bank financial institutions and 53 Fund Management firms.

Clients of collapsed microfinance firms will get their monies – Nana Addo assures

Following the revocation of the licences of some 347 microfinance companies as well as 39 microcredit companies in last year, President Nana Akufo-Addo assured depositors whose funds were locked up in the collapsed microfinance institutions that they will have their monies paid back to them.

He assured that they will get 100 percent of their deposits.