UT, Capital bank loan defaulters given 70 days to pay back

Receivers of defunct UT and Capital Banks have sent notice to all loan defaulters informing them that they have up to March 31, 2019 to pay all debts owed the banks before their collapse or face legal action.

The notice by Joint Receivers — Vish Ashiagbor and Eric Nana Nipah — named some 91 individuals and companies indebted to the two defunct banks.

Notable financial institutions among the defaulters are Beige Group Ltd., Beige Village Ltd., Express Savings and Loans Company Ltd., Firstbanc Ltd., and Liberty Asset Management Ltd. among others.

Both the UT and Capital Banks went into receivership in August 2017 as a result of severe impairment of their capital. GCB Bank Ghana Limited, through a Purchase and Assumption Agreement, purchased some assets and assumed certain liabilities of the two banks.

The two banks’ total loan stock was GH¢2.7billion as at the receivership date. This represents 70 percent of their total assets.

As of October, last year, the Receivers had realised only GH¢400million through sale and recovery efforts. It is however unknown how much has been recovered at present. The Receivers, by the present notice, hope to recover all remaining debts from their loan defaulters.

The Receivers, in October 2018, announced that they would exhaust all available means to recover the monies.

“In our efforts to recover outstanding loans, we have initiated a civil action against debtors with several writs filed so far. Where there has been criminal activity, we have involved the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO). In the investigation of some of these criminal activities, EOCO has prepared several dockets and sent them to the Attorney-General’s Department for prosecution,” the October 2018 release said.

“We are vigorously pursuing debtors through negotiations and court actions in order to recover substantial amounts owed both banks, as this is critical to the task of paying creditors including employees,” said the statement released by the Receivers in October 2018.

The statement further noted that out of the GH¢4.4billion the banks owed their creditors, some GH¢3.7billion has been settled.

“We have made a request for creditors to submit their claims and proofs of debt for validation. Of a combined creditor claim of the two banks amounting to approximately GH¢4.4billion lodged with the Joint Receivers so far, we have validated and agreed on claims worth approximately GH¢3.7billion.

The payment of creditors will be governed by the Banking and Specialised Deposit Taking Act 2016, Act 930, in the order of Secured Creditors, Bank of Ghana, statutory amounts owed government – e.g. taxes, wages and salaries owed employees etc.,” the statement said.

Source: B&FT