The management of Groupe Nduom, led by its chairman, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom has lined up a series of meetings with presidential aspirants asking them to support the reinstatement of the license of GN Savings.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) in late 2018 reclassified GN Bank as GN Savings and gave it a six month period to meet specific requirements.
This was after GN Bank was unable to meet the Bank of Ghana’s minimum capital of GH¢400 million by December 31, 2018.
Other requirements of the BoG included changing of the name and downsizing and even went further to assign an advisor.
When the six-month period elapsed, the BoG in August 2019 revoked the licenc together with 22 other insolvent savings and loans companies and finance house companies.
But the management of Groupe Nduom has constantly argued that it met all the requirements and therefore it was a surprise the BoG revoked the GN Savings licence after meeting all the requirements it gave to them.
The matter even went to court.
Petition to presidential aspirants
On Tuesday, the management met with Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly known as Cheddar or Freedom Jacob Caesar of the New Force and Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen of the Movement for Change.
They are both independent presidential aspirants.
Alan Kyerematen was part of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government and served as Minister of Trade and Industry, a Cabinet position at the time the license of GN Savings was revoked by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
They have planned to also meet former President John Dramani Mahama who is contesting the December presidential election, asking to be re-elected as president on the ticket of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
They have another meeting with Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who is contesting on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the incumbent government under whose governance GN Bank was downgraded back to a savings and loans entity and eventually a license revocation.
Dr Bawumia chairs the Economic Management Team of the incumbent government.
Meeting with Cheddar and Alan
During the separate meetings with the two independent presidential aspirants on Tuesday [July 9, 2024], the senior management of Groupe Nduom presented a two-page petition to them, asking them to support the call for the restoration of the licence of GN Savings.
They first met with Nana Kwame Bediako and later went to Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen.
Dr Nduom underscored the need for governments to support the growth of indigenous Ghanaian businesses, noting that it was the only way to make the country’s economy strong.
Groupe Nduom wants flag bearers to consider the reinstatement of the licence of GN Savings/Bank should they win the December 7 presidential election, and subsequently become president of Ghana; if the current administration fails to restore the licence before it leaves office.
At Alan Kyerematen’s office, he acknowledged Dr Nduom’s contributions to the development of Ghana in the area of job creation.
The Groupe Nduom chairman before presenting the petition pointed out that, his intention of establishing GN Bank was for financial inclusion and job creation hence the reason for the many branches the bank opened across the country.
He told Mr Kyerematen that, GN Bank was reclassified as GN Savings and Loan and given a six month period to meet specific requirements which he said were all satisfied.
The requirements the Bank of Ghana (BoG) gave them included changing of the name and downsizing.
He said the BoG even went further to assign somebody, Yaw Sarpong as advisor to GN Savings.
According to Dr Nduom, it was therefore a surprise to him when the BoG revoked the GN Savings licence after meeting all the requirements it gave to them.
“We are here today to present a petition to you so that if you become president, then you know there is GN Savings licence issue you have to resolve”, Dr Nduom said.
He added: “As president you inherit good and bad things so I know if this administration doesn’t give the licence to us you will do it”
After receiving the petition, Mr Alan Kyerematen assured the GN team of his support and promised to bring GN Savings back if elected as Ghana’s president in the December 7 polls.
The leader of Movement for Change noted that, the decision to revoke the licences of some Ghanaian owned banks including GN Savings was a policy failure.
He did not understand why the BoG after reclassifying GN Bank went ahead and revoked its licence when it was in the process of putting things in place.
Among other things he said the BoG’s decision to revoke the licence of GN Savings and others amounted to policy failure was the money the government borrowed to collapse the banks and the government’s inconsiderate posture of not thinking about many Ghanaians who lost their jobs in this so-called banking sector clean-up.
According to him, even if those banks were facing some challenges, what they needed was not the revocation of their licences but technical and financial support from the government to help them stay in business.
To this end, he promised to investigate the reason for the revocation of the licences of the Ghanaian banks “as it is alleged that some people may have done that just for the benefit they would get from it”.
“If indeed there was no justification for the withdrawal of the licences of some banks as it has been alleged I promise you(Dr Nduom) that if I am elected I will ensure those who did that are held accountable for their deeds”, he stressed.
