Joe Jackson
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, has defended the financial sector clean-up undertaken during the administration of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, insisting that the exercise was necessary despite concerns over its implementation.
Speaking on Accra-based TV3, Mr. Jackson acknowledged that the process was fraught with difficulties but maintained that reforms in the banking and financial sector could not have been avoided.
“Did we need a clean-up? Yes. Was the process that was undertaken fraught with a lot of issues? The answer there, too, is yes,” he stated.
According to him, the country’s financial sector continues to undergo major reforms, with institutions being compelled to reassess their operations under a new regulatory framework introduced after the clean-up exercise.
Mr. Jackson’s comments come in the wake of a recent Court of Appeal ruling ordering the restoration of the licence of GN Savings and Loans Company Limited, one of the financial institutions affected during the sector reforms.
Despite the court ruling, the Dalex Finance CEO cautioned that reviving the institution after seven years of inactivity would be an extremely difficult task.
He argued that a banking licence alone could not restore a financial institution without credibility, liquidity, capital, operational systems and public trust.
“A functioning bank is not a licence. A functioning bank is credibility, trust, capital, liquidity, staff and the premises that are used,” he said.
Mr. Jackson noted that customers of GN Savings and Loans had long moved on to alternative financial institutions, while former employees had lost their jobs or sought employment elsewhere.
“What has happened is that a licence has been restored, but the bank has not been resurrected,” he remarked, describing the restoration as more of a legal victory than an operational revival.
He further stressed that the company would still be required to meet the regulatory requirements of the Bank of Ghana before resuming operations.
“It has been seven years where customers have moved on and found alternative ways of conducting their financial services, seven years where staff have been out of employment, so resurrecting this institution is a tough one,” he added.
Meanwhile, Founder of Groupe Nduom, Papa Kwesi Nduom, has welcomed the Court of Appeal decision and expressed optimism that the company’s licence would soon be fully restored.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal ruled that the revocation of GN Savings and Loans’ licence was unfair and unreasonable.
The court further directed the receiver to hand over possession, management and control of the company’s assets and operations to its shareholders, while noting that any third-party interests created during the receivership would be determined on a case-by-case basis and in good faith.
A Business Dek Report