Story: A News Desk Analysis

Introduction

The Ghanaian public has shown gargantuan and unprecedented interest in the #BringBackGNBank national tour and campaign to bring back jobs, and the banking service to the 300 locations many of which are now without any licensed bank.  During the tour, a number of questions have been raised.  The Today newspaper has followed the action on the ground and brings to readers the background of the tour, the questions asked by the public and answers the newspaper has obtained from the organizers.

Background

Groupe Nduom companies, major shareholders in GN Bank/Savings started public action during the week of May 13, 2024 to draw attention to its quest to bring back GN Bank.  Named #BringBackGNBank, the national tour has been planned to reach all corners of the country with the intent to gauge the people’s interest in and need for the bank and get the attention of decision makers.

During the first week, action commenced in all 16 regional capitals with volunteers picketing at vantage points.  Billboards with the #BringBackGNBank message were mounted in some key spots around the country.

Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, Chairman of Groupe Nduom on Sunday, 26 May joined a prayer and information session  to mark the beginning of a physical national road journey to bring back GN Bank.  The event was held at the North Ridge site where GN Bank’s first branch and headquarters was situated in 2005.  Former GN Bank employees, GN employees, volunteers, sympathizers and religious personalities participated in the programme.

Dr. Nduom continued his live action with a highly successful Live Facebook event on June 6th during which he showed proof of government administration intervention and explained what happened to GN Bank.  He has followed that up with a Tertiary Institution lecture programme scheduled to occur at every tertiary institution in the country.

The advocacy programme has drawn massive attention in major markets, lorry parks, schools, work places and on social media.  The traditional media platforms have followed the activities with keen interest.  Political parties have expressed their opinions in various talk shows.  The Akufo-Addo Administration is reported to have held several meetings at different levels to assess the impact of this programme and its potential effects.

Questions and Answers

The following are the questions that have been asked repeatedly by many people and the answers we have obtained from the organizers:

Question: Why the #BringBackGNBank national tour now four years after the licence was revoked?  

Answer:  Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has since 2019 pursued quiet engagement with the relevant authorities hoping for a win-win settlement.  This has involved petitions to President Akufo-Addo, Vice President Bawumia, the House of Chiefs, numerous  and significant religious personalities and chiefs.  At some point, the President appointed a mediator, whose gallant efforts to resolve our issues were frustrated by the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana’s lack of cooperation.  One recurring piece of advice received by shareholders from the beginning was that they should go to court so they did and the case has traveled more than four years with no end in sight as it is in the Court of Appeals.  Considering the Akufo-Addo Administration has about six months left to govern, the shareholders decided to make one last appeal to the general public and the authorities to tell the story and demonstrate why the bank must come back.

Question:  Which licence is the shareholders asking to be restored?  

Answer: What was revoked was a savings and loans licence.  But GN Bank’s directors asked for the reclassification upon the advice given by the Governor of the Central Bank with the understanding that when debts owed by government agencies are paid, the licence would be upgraded to universal bank status.  Obviously, the shareholders would prefer to be given a universal bank licence given that the assets of the company are much more than the 15 million Ghana cedis required for a savings and loans license.  But, they are willing to go back to the savings and loans status and work their way back up again if that is the only option.

Question:  If Groupe Nduom companies claim that they are owed over 7 billion Ghana cedis, why are they not in court to recover the funds?  

Answer:  Indeed, a number of individual court actions have been going on for over four years, without any resolution.  The shareholders decided this year to issue a demand letter to the Ministry of Finance with copies to the agencies involved (GETFund, COCOBOD, Ministry of Works & Housing, Ministry of Roads & Highways, etc.); the President, Vice President, Ministry of Justice & Attorney General, and Chief of Staff.  The shareholders have not even received the courtesy of a response.  Further legal action is contemplated.

Question:  Is it true that Groupe Nduom transferred $64 million of customer funds illegally to the United States? 

Answer:  No, not true.  It is believed that this allegation originated from the Ministry of Finance with the knowledge of the former Ministers Ken Ofori-Atta and Charles Adu-Boahen.  The authorities, we gather, have been running away from this allegation.  The former GN Bank employee who supposedly gave information to the Bank of Ghana has recanted and gone underground.  State investigative agencies have examined the allegation and have concluded that no illegality happened.  Some individuals allegedly supported by Ghanaian authorities filed lawsuits in courts in the United States of America over illegal money transfers/money laundering and lost the cases.  The shareholders believe that the matter gets resurrected when certain parties are desperate for something negative to attach to Groupe Nduom.

Question:  Why did GN Bank experience a liquidity crisis and was unable to pay even small monies to the customers?  

Answer:  No customer of GN Bank (or for that matter Gold Coast/BlackShield) experienced any difficulties in getting their deposits paid back to them until 2017 or sometime in 2018.  It is when Government contracts were frozen by the Ministry of Finance and payments on interim payment certificates stopped that Groupe Nduom companies started experiencing liquidity challenges.  The panic withdrawals were fueled by government authorities who constantly harped on the possibilities that some banks could be closed for not meeting the huge and unprecedented rise in minimum capital requirements.

Question:  What are the GN Bank shareholders going to do about the assets that are now rotting and being destroyed?  

Answer:  Groupe Nduom has at various times written to the Receiver to ask for joint management and accounting of assets which court cases continue.  The joint management of assets appeal even went to the Supreme Court.  There is at least a case in court involving one of the owners of a building used by the bank and the Receiver.  The shareholders are seeking the restoration of assets to tenable condition.  The shareholders have told Today that the buildings do not even belong to GN Bank so the Receiver locked them up illegally without confirming ownership.  No court of law has assigned ownership of the properties to the Receiver.

Question:  What do the GN Bank shareholders want to achieve?  

Answer:  They want debt owed by government agencies to be paid even if on installment schedule. Then, they  want all legitimate customer funds to be paid back to them and related licenses restored.

Question:  What about Gold Coast/BlackShield? 

 Answer:  The shareholders have been working in the law courts and administratively to retrieve monies from debtors, particularly government agencies.  What is retrieved will be used to pay back legitimate investments made by customers.  The shareholders are planning to start public action on this matter.

Question: When will the public action end?  

Answer:  When agreement is reached with the authorities to pay debts and return licences and implementation starts.

Question:  Will the next government administration restore the GN Bank licence if the Akufo-Addo one doesn’t do it before its term of office ends?

Answer:  The shareholders cannot predict what the next administration will do.  However, we believe that we have a compelling and credible case; and the fact that the financial inclusion strategy implemented will enable rapid national economic growth; the political colouring of the revocation decision and the human rights errors all together will cause the next administration to restore GN Bank’s licence and the debts owed by government agencies paid.  Indications are that former President John D. Mahama, former Minister Alan K. Kyeremanten and the PPP Candidate will agree to restore the bank’s licence.

Question: Did Groupe Nduom use GN Bank depositors’ money to buy a bank in the USA?

Answer:  NO.  GN Bank in Ghana had nothing to do with the acquisition of a bank in the USA.  The shareholders of GN Bank in the USA are different from the ones involved in the Ghana bank.  Dr. Nduom who led the acquisition of the USA bank started the search for a bank to acquire back in 2014.  The target was found in 2015 and the process started from there.  No Ghana bank money or even management were involved in the transaction which was scrutinized closely by USA regulators.

Question:  Why did GN companies and GN Bank lend only to government agencies?

Answer:  Not true.  GN companies and GN Bank gave loans to and provided pre-financing for individuals, private business enterprises small and big, and government contractors.  It is for this reason that GN Bank  was able to collect and pay over 600 million Ghana cedis back to its customers in 2019.

Question: What if the GN Bank licence is restored without the payment of debts owed by government agencies?

Answer:  GN Bank will start small and re-open the branches as and when additional funds become available.  The shareholders want the public to know that prior to the revocation of the license, GN Bank had obtained a $20 million facility from the then OPIC now DFC, an agency of the US Government which was not disbursed as a result of the BoG decision. 

TO BE CONTINUED.