President Nana Akufo-Addo has blamed the Bank of Ghana for the banking crisis which led to the collapse of some 420 financial institutions in the country.
“This famous banking scandal, which has engulfed all of us, if the Bank of Ghana had acted responsibly and dealt with some of these issues like it should have been done, we would have never gotten to the situation. It was lax,” the President said during his second meeting with members of the Council of State.
The President said during the first phase of the banking crisis, “GH¢13 billion had to come from public funds to support the industry and make sure that the funds were secured.”
“…Finding GH¢13 billion to support my budget is a major problem to me, yet this is the amount of money… So when we are talking about these matters, I don’t think we should just focus on the citizens. Yes, there’s the need for discipline amongst all of us but I think that the focus on what the public institutions need to do is very important,” the President added.
Background
The BoG revoked the licences of UT Bank Ltd and Capital Bank Ltd and approved a Purchase and Assumption (P&A) transaction with GCB Bank Ltd that transferred all deposits and selected assets of the two banks after they were found to be deeply insolvent.
The Central Bank subsequently revoked the universal banking licences of five banks including UniBank Ghana Limited, Construction Bank, Sovereign Bank, Royal Bank and Beige Bank and issued a licence to a newly created bank – Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited – which is wholly owned by Government of Ghana.
Last Friday, BoG revoked the licenses of 23 insolvent savings and loans and finance house companies.
The companies are GN Savings and Loans Ltd., Ideal Finance Ltd., IFS Financial Services Ltd., Legacy Capital Savings and Loans Ltd., Midland Savings and Loans Company Ltd., Sterling Financial Services Ltd., uniCredit Savings and Loans Ltd., Women’s World Banking Savings and Loans Co. Ltd., Accent Financial Services Ltd. and Adom Savings and Loans Ltd.
Others are AllTime Finance Ltd., Alpha Capital Savings and Loans Ltd., ASN Financial Services Ltd., CDH Savings and Loans Ltd., Commerz Savings and Loans Ltd., Crest Finance House Ltd., Dream Finance Company Ltd., Express Savings and Loans Company Ltd., the First African Savings and Loans Company Ltd., First Allied Savings and Loans Co. Ltd., First Ghana Savings and Loans Co. Ltd., First Trust Savings and Loans Ltd. and Global Access Savings and Loans Company Ltd.