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A/R: Customers Stranded As SEC Officials Fail To Show Up Again At Validation Centres

Business & Finance AR: Customers Stranded As SEC Officials Fail To Show Up Again At Validation Centres
NOV 19, 2019 LISTEN

There is growing anger and frustration among customers of some defunct fund management companies who have visited various validation centres in Kumasi as no official from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is attending to them.

Customers continue to throng the Adum and KNUST branches of the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG) for the exercise since they were not able to go through the process on Monday.

Hundreds of them were left stranded at validation centres as part of processes to retrieve their locked up monies.

Today, while some customers have chosen to wait, others have given up and left the premises of the centres.

“Yesterday we were here, but we didn’t get any information on whether the validators will come off or not. Today, we are here as well and nobody is here to attend to us. So I think, we will leave and come back later”, one of the angry customers said.

Another noted that: “Some people even slept here. We decided to put down our names so that when they come, we will be able to go about the exercise in an orderly manner. We were told the validators will come but they didn’t. So today too we have come and we have not heard anything from them.”

SEC set Monday, November 18 as the start date for the affected customers of closed down fund management companies to begin processes that will lead to capped payments.

“Even the CBG doesn’t know what is going on. They just told us to wait but the validators will come but to no avail. So for now, we are awaiting the SEC officials”, one other frustrated customer indicated.

The customers have bemoaned the difficulties they had faced with the process.

“We are not seeing anybody and they are not telling us anything. It is very worrying because nobody is attending to us because we don’t have anywhere to sit. We are just hanging around”, another noted.

Validation

Weeks ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoked the licenses of 53 Fund Management Companies.

On the back of this, SEC selected branches of Consolidated Bank of Ghana Limited (CBG) to receive claims from clients who have their funds locked up at the affected companies.

The banks were tasked to accept relevant documents for the validation of the investment claims.

According to SEC, the said branches serving as agents were authorized “to ascertain and validate details of investors and their investments with these institutions at the time of the revocation to facilitate the administration of the Government pay-out of a capped amount to affected investors.”

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission has advised customers not to engage in panic withdrawals but rather educate themselves and do the needful.

“In the interim we urge all investors to remain calm, gather all receipts, statements and any other documentation related to their investment with the affected institutions. There is also no need for any panic withdrawals on the firms whose licenses are intact and not on the revocation list. A list of firms whose licenses have not been revoked can be found on the SEC website (www.sec.gov.gh)”.

---citinewsroom

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