The Receiver of the defunct 347 Micro Finance Companies, 23 Savings and Loans and Finance Houses, Eric Nana Nipah, has said customers who are yet to receive their claims should be able to access them by the end of July 2020.

In addressing the issue, Mr. Nipah said he has already paid about 96% of customers and is hopeful of completing the remainder by the end of this month [July].

While speaking in an interview on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, Mr. Nipah also said he has been able to save the country 1 billion Cedis by scrutinizing fabricated claims.

“For depositors, we have come a very long way and I have been able to determine that actually, the depositor base in the three receiverships is in the region of GHS 5.4 billion by value of valid depositor claims that I have received. And out of that, I have been able to pay close to 96% of these claims,” he said.

He also noted that about 98% of all the depositor claims will be paid in cash, while the remaining 2% will be paid through the combination of cash and bonds.

“I am on course to fully pay 98% of all depositor claims by way of cash. The two per cent that remains is being paid through a combination of cash and commercial paper which we commonly refer to as bonds.” Through the very effective and robust validation mechanism that I have put in place, I have also been able to save the nation close to a billion Cedis by way of robust and resilient validation processes,” he added.

Meanwhile, former employees of the defunct companies are also to receive their outstanding claims before the end of July. This follows the completion of negotiations between the Receiver and representatives of the workers.

Background

The Bank of Ghana (BoG), between 2017 and 2019, revoked the licenses of nine local commercial banks and over four hundred other financial institutions comprising Micro-finance, Savings and Loans as well as Finance Houses, for violating various regulations controlling their operations.

The exercise affected the monies of about 4.6 million depositors which could have been lost completely had the regulator not taken due action.

It all began in August 2017, when the Bank of Ghana (BoG) gave GCB Bank Ltd the green light to acquire two local banks UT and Capital bank due to severe impairment of their capital.

Later in August 2018, the Bank of Ghana consolidated five other local banks into the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited. Then in May 2019, 347 microfinance companies also had their licenses revoked by the Bank of Ghana.

The Bank of Ghana later in August 2019 again revoked the licences of twenty-three (23) insolvent savings and loans companies and finance houses, whiles the Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the licenses of over 50 Fund Management Companies.