GN Bank customers are up in arms against the financial body for hindering them from accessing their funds from August 2018 with one excuse or the other.
A customer harboured the hope that with the bank clean-up by the central bank over, things would have returned to normalcy but he says any such hope has been dashed.
The situation is compounded when the customers some of whom are salary workers say they operate savings account as well as salary account at GN but since their liquidity challenges emerged leading to a downgrading to a savings and loans status, although their employers send their salaries through their accounts they can’t make withdrawals and when they seek to retrieve funds from their savings account, they equally come up dry.
To express their disgust and frustration, the aggrieved customers have served notice of holding protest marches through the regions culminating in a mammoth demonstration in Accra in the coming weeks.
Being unable to have access to funds has meant rent, health, utility, car maintenance, family upkeep, school fees and bills have compounded exacting pressure on the mind and body of the customers.
Meanwhile management of GN Bank say it is transitioning into a savings and loans company from a universal bank having failed to meet the Central Bank’s GHc400 million minimum capital requirement.
The Bank of Ghana being the regulator has given GN Bank until the end of June 2019 to complete its transitional plan but the management is yet to come up with the plan and begin its implementation.
A Bank of Ghana statement on GN Bank’s situation read: “The Bank of Ghana will closely monitor implementation of the approved transitional plan which is expected to be completed by the end of June 2019. In this regard, the Bank of Ghana has appointed an advisor for GN pursuant to section 101 (1) of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act of 2016 (Act 930), to advise management of GN with a view to ensuring a smooth transition to a viable savings and loans company. The Advisor will hold office until otherwise advised by the Bank of Ghana and will furnish the Bank of Ghana with a status report on the GN in three months and as frequently as the Bank of Ghana may require.”
By Michael Eli Dokosi/goldstreetbusiness.com
