About ¢849 million have been realized from the assets of all the defunct banks whose licenses have been revoked.
Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison disclosed that the amount is from the ¢10 billion that the receivers took over from these institutions.
How were the proceeds realised?
Addressing members of the Ghana Association of Bankers at its 17th Working Luncheon in Accra, he said the monies were secured form loan repayments by customers, placements repaid, proceeds from the sale of vehicles, bonds, other income.
The rest was from interest from placements made and the refund of commissions paid.
Recovering remaining assets through the courts
The Governor also gave these updates on how far they have come with the various cases.
Fifty-two cases in the various courts in the country, 50 of which have been assigned to specific judges/courts. In addition, over 60 cases have been referred to the Special Investigative Team.
Dr Addison added that even though the task is enormous they have the confidence in the judicial system to bring those culpable to justice.
“The Bank of Ghana will continue to work with the Receiver to ensure that bottlenecks in the receivership process cleared for the orderly winding down of the defunct banks,” he said.
Dr Addison also thanked the judiciary for the support he received so far but urging “government, the Chief Justice and Security Agencies to work steadily to recover certain assets from shareholders, directors and loan defaulters of the erstwhile defunct banks.”
The Receivership Process
He said they remain “confident that despite the initial hiccups associated with records the receivership process has progressed steadily.”
He also gave a breakdown on how the process has gone so far citing:
i. Validation of the financial position of the defunct banks;
ii. Realization of assets/recoveries; and
iii. To settle creditors and engage other stakeholders.
These activities were subsequently categorized under three phases of the receivership process, namely:
· Phase 1 – preservation of assets and validation of the financial positions;
· Phase 2 – Realization of the assets (including loan recoveries), administration of creditor claims and payment of interim dividends as appropriate; and
· Phase 3 – Complete assets realizations, resolution of matters in litigation, payment of dividends
as appropriate, complete administrative and statutory duties.
Appointment of receivers
The Bank of Ghana in 2017 appointed Eric Nana Nipa and Vish Asiagbor as the receivers to help recover “bad” assets of the defunct UT and Capital Banks.
It was estimated that that combined creditor claim of the two banks amounting to approximately GH¢4.4 billion.
The Bank of Ghana also again Nii Amanor Dodoo of KPMG as the Receiver for the five banks.
These are uniBank Ghana Limited, The Royal Bank Limited, Beige Bank Limited, Sovereign Bank Limited, and Construction Bank Limited.