Atik Commends Central Bank For GCB Takeover Of UT & Capital Banks

Suspended General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC) Atik Mohammed has commended the Central Bank for approving a takeover of UT and Capital banks by the GCB bank.

The GCB bank on Monday took over the two banks after they were declared insolvent by the Central bank.

The takeover has since courted controversy as several customers of the two banks have registered their displeasure with the move by the Central bank.

But responding to the issue on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Atik Mohammed applauded the Central bank for taking a swift action to salvage Ghana's financial sector.

According to him, the insolvency of the two banks would have had negative toll on the country's financial sector, hence the need for the GCB bank takeover.

He also noted that the inability of the Central bank to have given prior notice to customers of the two banks was in the right order.

He said notifying the customers could have resulted in panic and this would have led them to withdraw their monies from the banks, “ . . .that will collapse the financial sector and it will result in financial crises. And already, we’re complaining that the financial sector in this country is not very well developed and if all these things are going to happen, then it will just amount to a total collapse of the financial sector.”

He stated that the Central bank's action was to prevent "runs" by the customers at their banks.

“Anytime there’s uncertainty or panic in the financial sector, there’s always this likely effect that customers will have a run at the bank. When we say customers will have a run at the bank, it means they will do simultaneous withdrawals . . . And when we do that, it’s going to create a great deal of chaos in the financial sector."

Atik Mohammed further advised the country's financial institutions to learn a lesson from the takeover incident saying it’s good to "work hard to set up an entity but allow the rules of company management to govern whatever you do. Allow experts to help you. Let people who will tell you the truth to help you. Do not just employ people who will do ‘Yes Sir, Master’.”