The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ghana has announced that government has made a provision of Gh¢5.5 billion in the 2021 national budget statement which the house of Parliament have recently approved to complete the asset management industry clean exercise as bailout for clients of defunct Fund Management Companies (FMC) across the country.
The move, according to SEC shows government commitment in enhancing the Ghanaian security market in realising its potential as an essential propeller to support the socio-economic growth of the country by making it the gateway for domestic and international investors.
It is for this reason, that the Commission have put in place a comprehensive framework of protecting investors and the integrity of the securities market to update the general on the implementation of the bailout programme for clients of defunct fund management companies.
As at the 31st March 2021, out of a total of One Hundred Thousand, Eight Hundred and Ninety Eight (100,898) claims received against forty-seven (47) companies valued at Eleven billion, Seven Hundred and One Million Ghana Cedis (GHS 11.70 billion), a total of One Hundred Thousand, Seven Hundred (100,700) claims valued at Eight billion, Three Hundred and Fourteen million Ghana Cedis (GHS 8.314 billion) have so far been validated. This means that an estimated 99.8% of the total claims filed have been validated with an almost 30% found to be unwarranted. Claimants who disagree with validated amounts are engaging the agent of the SEC for further examination.
Addressing a cross section of the media, The Director General of SEC, Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, said the Commission will continue to engage the media on series of interaction to enable public to be well informed about government commitment to update the public particularly clients and investors on the full status of the bailout implementation programme.
He said weakness in corporate governance have led to the collapse of the financial entities and urged them to adhere to compliance to enable them identify where the emerging risks and pointed out that the bailout is real and commended government for the laudable initiative.
The Commission in this regard is appealing to all affected clients to duly follow through with all relevant processes to redeem their claims and rely only on formation provided by the Commission and the official liquidation”, he said.
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The Commission, he further said is assuring affected clients that government have made adequate provision to cover all validated claims with the recent additional allocation in the 2021 national budget statement to support the clean-up exercise for the asset management industry and thus called on clients not to entertain fear or panic.
The Director General advised customers who have a claim identity card but are yet to receive a text message from Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) capital in line with bank details to contact amfund@gcb.com or visit www.bailout.rgd.gov.gh for latest information on the bailout.
According to him, there are less than a quarter of the liquidation petitions outstanding and explained that it was due to the hard work of the official liquidator and the courts and again assured that the full bailout package will be triggered when the liquidation orders are granted.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ghana is the apex regulatory body of the Securities Industry in Ghana set up by the Securities Industry Act, 2016 (Act 929) to regulate and promote the growth and development of an efficient, fair, and transparent securities market in which investors and the integrity of the market are protected.
Source: Ben LARYEA