Following the revocation of the licences of the 347 microfinance institutions (MFIs), the Receiver, Mr Eric Nipah, among other things, has announced an upward review of capped payments to GHS20, 000 for each depositor of the affected companies whose claim(s) has/have been validated in the receiverships of these MFIs.

Based on the total number and value of claims received in the receiverships of these MFIs at the extended deadline date for claims submission on Friday, 27 September 2019, the Receiver said he wishes to announce an increase in the capped payment from GHS10,000 to GHS20,000 per depositor, to all depositors whose claims have been validated and accepted with immediate effect.

The Receiver said he wishes to inform depositors with validated claims above GHS10,000, who have already been paid up to the earlier capped amount of GHS10,000 per depositor that they should expect further payments up to a total of GHS20,000 per depositor where their validated total claim(s) in the receiverships of these MFIs is/are in excess of GHS20,000 per depositor.

Where a depositor’s validated claim is in excess of GHS10,000 but is less than GHS20,000, the depositor will receive the full amount of his/her validated claim(s).

This was contained in a statement by the spokesperson for the Receiver, Philomena Kuzoe, which was released on Friday, 8 November 2019.

The release said the Receiver is in the process of recovering assets of the various MFIs to the extent possible and will make payments to the body of creditors of these affected MFIs including depositors, as appropriate and in accordance with the relevant provisions of Act 930.

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) revoked the licences of the insolvent firms including GN Savings and Loans belonging to businessman Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom on Friday, 16 August 2019.

The central bank then appointed Mr Nipah as the Receiver for the specified institutions in line with section 123 (2) of Act 930.

Meanwhile, the Receiver has revealed that the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has stepped in to trace assets of the dead firms that cannot be located.

The Receiver, a Partner at PwC, indicated that due to dubious transactions, EOCO has been invited to conduct an investigation and trace the assets of the firms.

"We are optimistic that with the asset tracing exercise that EOCO is undertaking, there would be retrieval of assets for us to sell and use the proceeds to pay the customers," Mr Nipah said while lamenting: "A lot of these companies are 'asset-less' in terms of the fact that there's virtually nothing there."

Mr Nipah announced that some GHS 835 million provided by the government will be used to offset part of the debt while the balance will be cleared using proceeds from the sale of assets retrieved by EOCO.