Story: Atta Kwaku Boadi

The campaign to bring back GN Bank popularly known as #BringBackGNBank will move to its phase 3 stage next month with Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom as the lead campaigner.  

According to sources  within Groupe Nduom plans  are also being designed for engagement  with international leaders and institutions in November. 

The campaign so far Today understands has been purposeful, peaceful and very effective in educating the public about the circumstances that led to the revocation of the GN Savings license. 

It has caused many citizens to call for the reinstatement of what became known as “the People’s Bank”.  

Traditional leaders, religious men and women, traders, workers of types, politicians, teachers, health workers, market women and others have heard the messages and want the bank’s licence reinstated.  

Economists have concluded that the haste with which such a bank with nationwide operations was abruptly collapsed has contributed to micro level economic challenges throughout the country.  

Today investigations show that In the Ghanaian hinterland, no licensed national financial institution has stepped up to support the local economies the way GN Bank did.  

Many small businesses have collapsed and others have downsized their operations.  

GN Bank started a public advocacy campaign dubbed #BringBackGNBank earlier this year. 

The Chairman of Groupe Nduom (GN)  has said that the campaign is to set the records straight and explain to the general public the history of GN Bank; the impact it was making in expanding access to banking nationwide; the challenges it faced; and the need to restore the licence .  

According to him, repeated attempts to engage the current Administration (particularly the former Minister of Finance Ken  Ofori- Atta) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) among others such as the House of Chiefs and religious bodies has not yielded positive results. Hence the need to go public with the facts. 

The campaign took an important step when on Saturday July 6, 2024 it started sending letters to schedule appointments with presidential candidates and political parties.  The purpose of the meetings was for GN to present petitions asking the candidates and political parties to support its campaign for the restoration of the GN Savings licence; and ultimately an upgrade back to universal banking status.  

The GN delegation which included all senior management personnel, was led by its Chairman, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom. This resulted in many candidates and parties endorsing the call to review BoG’s revocation of licence decision and restore the license.  

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) on August 16, 2019 revoked the licences of twenty-three (23) savings and loans companies and finance house companies.  

This included GN Savings, a company BOG had issued a licence to only in January 2019 following the reclassification of GN Bank, a universal bank.  Dr. Nduom has explained that he wants to get back to the universal banking rank due to the significant investments made in technology, geographic footprint and human capital.  

GN has maintained all along that its companies are owed substantial sums of money by government and its agencies that when paid would have recapitalized and provided a solution to real and perceived challenges.  

The company has presented a demand letter to the Akufo-Addo Administration months ago for amount now exceeding GHS7.5 billion. 

The administration and its agencies have not given the courtesy of responses even though they have acknowledged receiving the demand letter.

The Today Newspaper’s investigations show that the Akufo-Addo Administration has heard all the arguments in favor of restoring the banking licence. They acknowledge receiving the various petitions and have been weighing the political implications of restoring the licence.

They also admit the pressures constantly put on the presidency by various leaders asking for restoration.  Internally within the ruling NPP, the paper’s checks indicate that the party is weighing the impact of the #BringBackGNBank campaign on its electoral fortunes.  They know that on the ground in many communities the absence of GN Bank is a clear and present danger to the people, the local economies and the party’s reputation.