Probe into UT, Capital Banks’ Collapse Not Yet Complete – Elsie Awadzie

The second deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana, Elsie Awadzie has stated that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is yet to complete investigations to ascertain whether the activities of the top officials of UT Bank and Capital Bank led to the collapse of the two financial institutions.

According to her, once the takeover of the two banks was confirmed, the BoG immediately began working towards ensuring that the assets of the banks were secure.

“In the case of UT Bank and Capital Bank we were winding up those banks and the first order of business was to immediately lay hands on assets to be able to recover value and take them back,” she said.

She noted that the management of BoG has proceeded to investigate the top management of the banks and would finalize the reports in due time.

“The management of the Bank of Ghana stands by its word to complete the investigation. We will definitely get all other institutions involved in following up the result of the investigation and there is no doubt about our commitment to that,” she said.

In August 2017, the Bank of Ghana (BoG)  said it would investigate and sanction officials whose activities led to the collapse of the two banks

“The last phase of the BoG’s action would involve a thorough investigation of operations of UT Bank and Capital Bank and appropriate action will be taken against shareholders, Directors, and key a Management personnel who are found to be culpable,” the BoG Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison revealed during a press conference.

“We have not sent any auditor there what we have said is that we are in the process of sending a team which includes chartered accountants, lawyers, and bankers. The Governor said there will be an investigation, we have to get approval from public procurement before we can start because this is a very sensitive issue, not something that you go through public tender.”

The two banks declared insolvency following their inability to turn around their negative capital adequacy positions.

This necessitated a Purchase and Assumption agreement allowing GCB Bank to take over all deposit liabilities and selected assets of both UT Bank and Capital Bank, per section 123 of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) Act, 2016 (Act 930).

The governor of the Central Bank noted that “UT Bank and Capital Bank were heavily deficient in capital and liquidity and their continuous operation could have jeopardized not only their depositors’ funds, but also posed a threat to the stability of the financial system.”

“It, therefore, became necessary for the Bank of Ghana to revoke their licenses and approve a Purchase and Assumption (P&A) transaction to allow GCB Bank, a large bank with the right balance sheet, to take over all deposits and selected assets of UT Bank and Capital Bank.”

Source: Citifmonline