Customers of the collapsed Microfinance, Savings and Loans companies and Finance Houses have called on the Receiver and the Bank of Ghana to migrate them to a special account in order for them to easily access their monies.
Speaking to Citi News, the leader of the Coalition of Affected Savings and Loans Customers made of the affected customers, Kofi Sarpong noted that when that arrangement is made, it will relieve them of the anxiety and frustration they have been going through as they make attempts to retrieve their locked up cash.
His comment comes after some customers in the Ashanti Region visited offices of the Receiver, Eric Nana Nipah to begin processes to retrieve their monies but were told to go back home as they will receive text messages telling them when to go for their deposits.
“We think that the Receiver should migrate all of the customers onto a [special] account because the receiver himself has said that he was going to create a new account for us so we believe that if they migrate us onto an account and credit our account with our balances, we can go to any CBG or any bank the Receiver feels will be good for him to check our balances. That will be the simplest and shortest way,” Kofi Sarpong said.
“As at now, the Receiver is talking about receiving a text message. We’ve made a lot of complaints that some of our members are illiterates or semi-illiterates so sometimes, it will be difficult for them to read text messages and go there but the shortest and simplest way is that migrate us, credit our accounts with our balances and give us the opportunity to go there. That will even reduce the frustrations people are going through,” he lamented.
Customers to be paid on Feb 24
The Receiver had earlier confirmed to Citi News that the customers of the collapsed microfinance, savings and loans and finance houses will from today, Monday, February 24, begin to access their full locked-up funds.
This came after President Akufo-Addo, while delivering 2020 State of the Nation Address in Parliament last week said the affected customers will begin receiving their locked up cash from today [Monday].
The customers of the 347 microfinance companies, 23 savings and loans and finance houses, as well as 39 micro-credit institutions with outstanding obligations, will be paid in either cash or bonds.
According to a press release issued by the Consolidated Bank Ghana, the Bank has chosen to payout customers’ funds and will open new accounts for affected customers whose claims have been validated and accepted for payment.
It added that the GHS5 billion the government has earmarked to settle all outstanding payments in full is a combination of cash and bonds.
Background
The Banking sector has since 2017 seen series of clean up exercises carried out by the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
So far, the sector has seen the collapse of over 400 financial institutions.
President Akufo-Addo, in his attempts to support the sector, approved a GHS15.6 billion request by the Finance Minister in December 2019.
According to a statement sighted by Citi News, the amount was meant to protect depositors and investors of the failed financial institutions as well as improve the liquidity of the sector.
Meanwhile, customers of the various financial institutions whose licenses have been revoked over time have been left frustrated as calls to the institutions and the government to retrieve their monies have not yielded any positive results.
Some have embarked on a series of demonstrations, while others have threatened to boycott the general elections if the government fails to come to their aid.
The post Migrate us to a special account to access our money – Customers to BoG, Receiver appeared first on Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana, Current Affairs, Business News , Headlines, Ghana Sports, Entertainment, Politics, Articles, Opinions, Viral Content.
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