The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has hit back at founder of collapsed Blackshield fund management (formerly Gold Coast Fund Management) accusing them of failing to help recover their funds from government.
The founder, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, said the decision to revoke the operating license of the firm despite their outstanding challenges with the government is disappointing.
It comes after SEC revoked the license of some 53 fund management firms, including Gold Coast security.
According to Dr. Nduom, they had appealed to the regulator, SEC, to help them retrieve their held-up funds with government but they refused.
But speaking in an interview monitored by The Ghana report, Deputy Director-General for the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Ababio admitted that such a request had been made. He was, however, quick to add that the commission is not responsible for debt recovery.
“we’re not debt collectors so I wouldn’t want to go there. There are some irregularities in the nature of the transactions we’re talking about. We’re taking every effort to ensure that investors get their funds. Government has also committed to support this action that we’re taking”.
Legal action
Founder of the embattled Blackshield fund management company, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom in a statement vowed to continue to pursue legal action to collect funds owed them.
When asked if SEC was ready for legal actions as a result of its decision to revoke the operating licenses of the fifty-three (53) companies, the deputy director for SEC, Paul Ababio responded in the affirmative.
“we are professionals and we appreciate what goes into these exercises. Some of these issues emerged more than a year ago. So, we’ve had to do quite a bit of analysis and work to come to this point and so we’re ready for any court matters. Our interest is to make sure that investors are able to access their funds. That the markets are secure and that Ghana’s capital market can grow and become a good source of capital for businesses and entrepreneurs who want to grow their business opportunity” he said.
Job losses
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says its decision to withdraw the licenses of the fifty-three (53) struggling fund managers has immediately rendered 249 people jobless; a figure it admits could be more.
Although the shutdown exercise involved 53 fund management companies, 21 firms had already folded up with the remaining 32 still in operation at the time their licenses were revoked.
“In our books, we have about 249 licensed representatives and these firms may also have accountants, IT officers, and back-office personnel and so we’re looking at 250 employees losing their jobs. It’s likely to be a bit higher, ” the deputy director of SEC, Pal Ababio noted.