*What led to its reclassification as a savings and loans company?
Story:Atta Kwaku BOADI
Today Newspaper investigators have obtained correspondence between the Chairman of the Board of Directors of GN Bank and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana on what led to the Bank’s reclassification to become a savings and loans company.
From the documents ,we have had the privilege to review, there was only one key reason for the reclassification – the inability or unwillingness of the Government Treasury to honour the obligations of government agencies, departments and ministries to contractors financed by Groupe Nduom companies.
Evidence abounds to prove that had contractors been paid in a timely manner, GN Bank and Gold Coast/BlackShield would not have faced liquidity challenges.
Over the past few months our investigations have yielded mountains of evidence to prove that what was put in the public realm to justify the revocation of the license have turned out to be false. Indeed there is every reason under the sun to rather justify the reinstatement of GN Bank’s universal banking license.
A review of the letter that sent the bank to the savings and loans category shows that the bank was given six months to transition from a universal bank to become a savings and loans company.
After the six months, a report sighted by Today was prepared and sent to the Bank of Ghana to prove that what was required had been met. A way forward was developed, approved by the Boars of Directors and sent to the regulator.
A number of innovations were developed and put into play. A partnership was agreed with Ecobank including a liquidity facility intended to enable the company to weather the existing storm. All of a sudden, the savings and loans licence was revoked. The shock this brought to Groupe Nduom and other shareholders is unimaginable. The question is why such a sharp reversal?
Our investigations further discovered that there are over 100 towns in all the regions that do not have any licensed deposit taking institution to serve the needs of the customers. The mobile banking reach of GN Bank has not been equaled by any bank in Ghana and in light of e-levy, GRA loses a lot due to the absence of the superior technology that made customers across the country do business with GN Bank.
