Shareholders Of UT And Capital Banks May Lose Their Shares

A Sunyani based economist and a member of institute of Certified Chartered Economist Ghana (ICEG), Mr. Enoch Okonah has hinted that shareholders of UT and Capital Banks which have been taken over by the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), may lose their shares.

The GCB Bank Limited, on Monday, 14 August 2017 took over transfers of all deposits and selected assets of UT Bank Limited and Capital Bank Limited as the two banks were struggling to operate financially.

Mr. Raymond Sowah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Commercial Bank subsequently assured the customers of both banks that their savings and investments are safe and protected.

Speaking on the Space FM Morning Flight show hosted Dickson Smith, Mr. Okonah said “if you are a shareholder of a bank, then, you are part of the ownership of the bank and if the company is taken over by a third party, customers and depositors monies must first be settled before the shareholders could receive theirs”.

He said he was not sure that shareholders will be looked at, at this initial stage of the challenges the two banks are facing.

Mr. Okonah was optimistic that “the shareholders will be the last group of people to be attended to, because they appointed the management and board of directors of the two banks and if they had failed in their supervisory role, then they should be held responsible for the challenges the two banks faced”.

According to him, “some of the shareholders of both banks may lose their shares for not doing diligent work to sustain the operations of the two banks”.

The Economist asked the customers and depositors of the UT and Capital banks to remain calm since their monies would not go waste.

Mr. Okonah, who is also the Sunyani Branch Sales Manager of Donewell Insurance, explained both banks have not been liquidated but rather their operations taken over by the GCB.

He urged the customers of both banks to rely on the assurance given to them by the CEO of GCB, Mr. Sowah that their deposits are safe.

“People should not rush to withdraw their deposits from both banks, since the two banks are not collapsing, but rather their operations taken over by the GCB”, he said