The Ghana Securities Industry Association (GSIA), together with other 9 securities and some investment firms, have rejected Ken Ofori-Atta’s debt restructuring proposal.

In a statement, GSIA acknowledged the difficult situation the country currently finds itself, but said “it cannot accept the government’s debt exchange programme announced by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in the 2023 budget”.

“We, at the GSIA understand the difficult crossroads at which our nation currently finds itself and the difficult choices that need to be made to set us on the path to debt sustainability. However, we are unable to accept the bond exchange program announced by the Minister of Finance in its present form.

“It is our intention to engage the MoF on our concerns and reservations. We, therefore, urge the investing public to continue to have confidence in us as we pursue this process. In this vein, we entreat clients of our member firms to allow us to engage and then communicate the outcomes to enable them to take the best decision on their investments.”
GSIA

Recently, Mr Ofori-Atta said Treasury Bills are completely exempted and all holders will be paid the full value of their investments on maturity. “There will be no haircut on the principal of bonds. Individual holders of bonds will not be affected,” Mr Ofori-Atta asserted.

The government is currently negotiating a programme with the International Monetary Fund for a $3-billion credit facility programme, thus, necessitating the debt restructuring exercise. “Under the programme, domestic bondholders will be asked to exchange their instruments for new ones”, Mr Ofori-Atta announced Sunday evening (4 December 2022), adding “Existing domestic bonds as of 1st December 2022 will be exchanged for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032 and 2037”. Also, “the annual coupon on all of these new bonds will be set at 0% in 2023, 5% in 2024 and 10% from 2025 until maturity. Coupon payments will be semi-annual”.

“The Bank of Ghana, the Securities & Exchange Commission, the National Insurance Commission, and the National Pensions Regulatory Authority will ensure that the impact of the debt operation on your financial institution is minimized, using all regulatory tools available to them.”
Mr Ofori-Atta

A Financial Stability Fund (FSF) is being established by Government with the help of development partners to provide liquidity support to banks, pension funds, insurance companies, fund managers, and collective investment schemes to ensure that they are able to meet their obligations to their clients as they fall due.

GSIA was established to be the voice of the securities industry and to work in partnership with the regulator to ensure the protection of investors. It is made up of firms regulated under the Securities Industry Act 2016 (Act 929) as amended (Investment Dealers, Investment Advisors, Fund Managers, Registrars, and Custodians) with associate membership provision for other financial institutions and the Ghana Stock Exchange.

The association was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee on 11 December 2003. It is a non-profit membership organisation with self-regulatory functions, to maintain prudent business practices among members and to ensure investor protection. It was founded by 10 firms: Boulders Advisors Limited, Capital Alliance Limited, CDH Securities Limited, Databank Brokerage Limited, Databank Asset Management Services Limited, Gold Coast Securities Limited, HFC Investment Services Limited, NTHC Limited, SEM Capital Management Limited and Strategic African Securities Limited.