Rev Daniel Ogbamey Tetteh
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stated that members of the public who accept high interest baits or guaranteed returns quoted by fund managers and buy in into that are doing so at their own risk.
According to Rev Ogbamey Tetteh, Director General of SEC, fund managers are not allowed to take deposits and offer high guaranteed returns to their customers.
Speaking at an interaction with the media on Thursday in Accra, he said fund managers are expected to use their knowledge to manage portfolios of underlying securities, some of which included electronic bills and bonds listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). “However, they are doing what banks are licensed to do,” he disclosed.
The meeting was to announce the third Capital Market Conference slated from 21-22 November, this year in Accra on the theme, “Ghana Beyond Aid: The Role of the Capital Market,” to mark its 20th anniversary.
The SEC Director General stated that his outfit has given a directive to fund managers to desist from such activity since July, this year, with the deadline being December this year.
“The fund managers have submitted their information and we have given them a window to wind down.”
He also debunked allegations that SEC, per the directive, would create liquidity problems for fund managers.
Rev Daniel Ogbamey Tetteh said his outfit would not back down on the directive, adding that it would announce the new minimum requirement for fund managers and allow them a 12-month period for full compliance.
Most people who invest with fund managers do not know where their monies are being invested and such people should be careful, he added.
Emmanuel Ashong-Katai, Head of Policy, Research and IT, SEC, in a remark, said the Commission believed that Ghana Beyond Aid could only work if the capital market is used to raise capital for infrastructure development, industrialization and wealth creation.
The SEC’s third Capital Market Conference would be used to undertake assessment and review the performance of SEC as a regulator of the country’s capital market and sustain public and investors interest in the securities industry.
Speakers for the conference include Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, Dr Ernest Addison, Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG) and Dr Kester Quist Alphetsi, Lecturer, Ghana Telecom University College.
Discussants are Seth Terkper, former Minister of Finance, Dr Sam Mensah, Dr Nii Kwaku Sowa, Eudora Koranteng and Dr Adu Anane Antwi, all past Directors-General of SEC; Samuel Atta Akyea, Minister of Works and Housing, Dr Mohammed Awal Ibrahim, the Minister for Business Development, among others.
The topics to be discussed are Investor Protection, Regulation and Development of the Capital Market: Challenges and Opportunities, Financing Ghana’s Agriculture: How Viable is the Commodities Exchange and Warehouse Receipts System, among others.