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Over 95 percent of Savings & Loans, Microfinance customers paid fully – Governor Addison
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison, has stated that all customers of the nine failed banks, and over 95 percent of customers of Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions (SDIs), which were affected by the banking sector clean-up have received their deposits.
According to Dr. Addison, the first phase of the banking sector clean-up involved the revocation of licenses of nine banks, for which all depositors were paid in full.
“The second phase has to do with the SDIs – these are the savings and loans, microfinance institutions and finance houses. In their case, for individual depositors who have been fully paid, the data that we have suggests that more than 95 percent of depositors have been fully paid,” he said.
The Governor continued, “So there are just about five percent depositors who have large amounts, these are the high net worth individuals who were settled with loans which were to be retired over five years. So, we think that most of it has been done.”
Dr. Addison made this known on Tuesday, 25th August 2020, when the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, visited the BoG to familiarize himself with the operations of the Bank.
Touching on deposits of customers of GN Savings and Loans and First Allied Savings and Loans, the Bank of Ghana Governor noted that, over the last three weeks, all customers have been paid.
“The Government has provided a bond worth GH¢1.7 billion, for which we have monetized GH¢700 million. So, the receiver is also working at clearing the last few customers that are left in that segment. So, I think that we have made a lot of progress, Mr. President, with this depositor issue,” he added.
On helping to ensure the maintenance of a strong banking sector in the country, and to prevent the recurrence of a banking crisis, Governor Addison told President Akufo-Addo that the first step taken has been to pass the new corporate governance directive.
This, he said, had become necessary because, at the heart of the financial sector crises, was a breakdown in corporate governance in the various banks whose licenses were revoked.
“The second one has to do with misreporting of data, because of a lot of falsification of data by the financial institutions to the Central Bank. So we have brought in a new technology which will allow us to get the data directly from sources, so that no human interventions will be in there to distort the data that they send,” the Governor indicated.
The third step, he added, “has to do with the capital verification process, because a lot of the banks reported that they had capital when, in fact, they didn’t have any capital at all.”
He continued, “So we have reviewed the entire capital verification process of the bank, and it’s almost impossible now for us to have a bank that doesn’t have any capital, and yet it’s allowed to operate, and, of course, in addition to that, for all the staff of the banking solution department we have had a lot of training programmes with the IMF and other technical assistance have been provided.”
Dr Addison expressed appreciation of the country’s banking sector to President Akufo-Addo for the role he played in sanitizing the space, which has brought in its wake more confidence in its wake.
“ Your clear leadership and understanding of the role of the financial sector in the government’s transformation agenda, gave the leadership of the Bank the confidence and courage to embark on the comprehensive banking sector reforms over the last three years, which saw an increase in the minimum capital requirements, clean-up of the financial sector by the revocation of licenses of weak and insolvent institutions, and a revamp of the regulatory framework to stabilise and strengthen the sector,” he added.
The clean-up of the sector, he stressed, has resulted in a stable financial sector with fewer banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) that are well capitalised, liquid, and solvent, and better able to support our nation’s economic growth agenda.
“These efforts helped to earn the Bank international acclaim as the Central Bank of the Year in 2019. By the end of 2019, all the financial sector soundness indicators showed strong improvements as capital adequacy ratio, profitability, and liquidity levels increased significantly while non-performing loans declined,” he added.
Madam Sandra Seyram Kpedor, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Anloga in the Volta Region, has emphasised the importance of parental involvement in children’s education, stating that education is free, but parents need to do more to support their children.
She said parents, teachers, and students must be involved in addressing the challenges facing the district’s education sector, particularly the poor Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results.
Madam Kpedor outlined some key roles parents should play to promote their children’s education, including providing a conducive learning environment, monitoring their children’s progress, and supporting teachers.
The DCE highlighted some challenges the district faced such as inadequate infrastructure and a shortage of teachers, which have also contributed to the poor BECE results and called on well-to-do parent to help solve the situation through and other supports.
To address the issues, she also announced that plans have been taken to utilise the district’s common fund to implement educational projects, such as constructing school blocks and teachers’ bungalows at Sodzi community, and 2-unit classroom blocks each at Akplorwutorkor and Tegbi-Afedome respectively, among others.
Madam Kpedor also noted that her office had earlier notified the Ministry of Education to deploy more teachers to the area to improve teaching and learning, and encouraged students to work hard and strive for excellence, and work beyond their limit to succeed.
“To my wonderful and beautiful girls, you have to know it clear that women and girls have equal opportunities to compete with men for greater achievements,” she indicated.
The DCE cited her own achievement as a testament to the fact that women can excel in leadership positions, alongside Vice President Nana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, and stressed that girls were no longer limited to domestic roles but can pursue their dreams and become leaders.
Additionally, she mentioned that a meeting was held earlier with assembly members, and other stakeholders to address the district’s educational challenges and improve academic performance.
She promised that the district’s education oversight committee and stakeholders would work together to address the challenges and improve the district’s BECE results and called for parental involvement and support to boost the district’s education sector for children to chase their dreams to become future leaders for the success of the district and the nation.
She urged parents not to leave everything to the government but rather help in the provision of some necessary materials such as textbooks, exercise books, pens, pencils, food, and guidance to children for the successes of young learners. –GNA
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The spokesperson for Dr. Bawumia, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has criticised the implementation of the NDC government’s No Fee Stress policy, arguing that the programme has failed to deliver on its core promise.
According to him on Starr fm, the policy, which was introduced to ensure stress free payment of fees for level 100 tertiary students, has rather turned into what he described as post stress support.
He explained that students are required to pay their fees first before applying for reimbursement, a situation he believes defeats the purpose of the policy.
He questioned claims by government officials that the policy has been successful and that citizens are happy.
In his view, such claims do not reflect the lived realities of many Ghanaians. He stressed that while some people may appear satisfied, many others continue to struggle.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye pointed to the situation of trained teachers and nurses who have been picketing for nearly six months, demanding employment.
He noted that government responses suggesting it cannot accommodate all of them contradict claims of economic stability.
He further argued that economic indicators such as a stable currency mean little to people who are unable to secure jobs or access promised support.
He observed that telling an unemployed teacher or a struggling student that the cedi has strengthened does not address their immediate challenges.
On the issue of tertiary education, he maintained that no level 100 student benefited from stress free fees in 2025, despite the policy being announced.
He added that in 2026, students have already reported to school without receiving the promised support.
He insisted that asking students to pay fees first and seek reimbursement later amounts to support after hardship, not stress free education.
According to him, this approach goes against what was promised during the policy announcement.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye questioned why a government that presents the economy as strong is unable to fulfil what he described as simple and clear promises.
He added that there is a fundamental problem with the way the economy is being managed and indicated that he is prepared to explain his position further.
By: Jacob Aggrey
