Defunct Financial Institutions: Not Every Customer Will Be Paid – Kwesi Pratt

President Akufo-Addo during the State of the Nation Address on February 20, 2020, in parliament stated that persons whose funds have been locked up in some defunct Savings and Loans companies and microfinance institutions will begin receiving their funds from Monday, February 24, 2020.

He said he had been informed by the Receiver of the Savings and Loans and the Microfinance institutions that the payments will total GH¢5 billion.

“I will like to repeat that all depositors of the savings and loans and Microfinance institutions including DKM which collapsed in 2015, will receive a 100% of their deposits once the validation exercise is concluded . . . I am informed that the Receiver of the Savings and Loans and the Microfinance institutions will begin on Monday, 24th February [2020], making payments to their customers, [with] these monies totalling GH¢5 billion being in addition to the GH¢13 billion being paid to the customers of the failed banks,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Confirming the President's statement, Managing Director (MD) of CBG, Daniel Wilson Addo, indicated that government has made available to CBG a combination of cash and bonds totalling about ¢5 billion to fully settle outstanding depositor claims.

To ensure that the affected customers are well served, there are clear modalities, he explained. According to him, the Bank will start by first paying depositors whose claims have already been validated.

He, therefore, advised depositors, whose claims are yet to be validated, to exercise patience. He assured them that their claims will also be paid as soon as the validation is completed by the Receiver.

He said SMS will be sent to depositors when their payments are due by the Receiver, adding that there was no need for them to go to the banking halls if they have not received notification by SMS, to come for their funds.

However, the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr says not all the customers will receive their monies.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', he explained his argument.

"What it means therefore is that if you are not validated you will not be paid. And the process of validation means some may not be validated," he argued.

Watch his submission in video below