Customers of distressed uniBank Ghana were stranded in the early hours of Wednesday when they visited the bank’s head office at Kokomlemle in Accra and other branches across the country to withdraw money.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) took over uniBank, whose Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) by October 2017 was estimated at negative 12.5 percent, making it technically insolvent.
Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Ernest Addison, told the media at a press conference on Tuesday, March 20, 2018 that global audit firm KPMG had been appointed as Official Administrator of uniBank in accordance with Sections 107 and 108 of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act 2016 (Act 930).
Under Section 108 of Act 938, the Official Administrator is authorized to rehabilitate and return the bank to regulatory compliance within a period of six months at the end of which the bank will be returned to private ownership and management.
The Central Bank’s decision came as a shock to the public, especially customers of uniBank.
As a result of the announcement, scores of the bank’s customers yesterday besieged the offices to make withdrawals despite assurances from the Central Bank that their monies were safe under the new arrangement.
Some customers said they were forced to withdraw their monies for routine activities and emergencies while others said they felt uncertain about their deposits in the bank.
The customers claimed the new administrators of the bank were locked up in a meeting with staff at the various branches.
Normal banking at uniBank across the country started by 12 noon on Wednesday which negatively affected customers.
After some hours, a notice was placed on the main entrance of the banking hall of the head office that operations would commence by 12 noon.
Later, an official of KPMG, Anthony Sarpong, who addressed the media, assured customers that banking operations would not be interrupted henceforth.
He said KPMG shall work hard to restructure the bank in six months’ time as mandated by BoG, indicating that KPMG has a track-record of executing such tasks globally.
By Melvin Tarlue