Management of embattled investment firm, Gold Coast Fund Management, has blamed government for the company’s inability to pay monies owed its depositors.

The company has failed to honour their part of investment agreements entered into with several of its clients in the past several months.

The situation has left its customers frustrated with several threatening to, and in some cases, actually vandalising the company’s property in retaliation to their locked up funds.

The company has consistently assured its clients that all persons due their dividends will receive their monies but continuously missing payment deadlines timelines appear to have gotten customers even more agitated than before.

The company in a statement released Tuesday morning and cited by http://www.abcnewsgh.com says the company is keen on retrieving its invested funds so as to pay its customers.

Portions of the statement read, “the company is also taking firm and urgent steps to recover investments placed with other financial institutions and government infrastructure products. When government agencies pay contractors for work done, it will restore normal operations for GCFM.”

The statement comes on the back of a decision by the Securities and Exchanges Commission directing Gold Coast Fund Management to halt receipt of all deposits until it settles its indebtedness to its clients.

SEC argued that it had received several complaints from affected clients and as mandated by law, has stepped into the matter to resolve the issues and protect depositors’ funds.

Despite the seemingly worrying nature of the situation, Gold Coast Fund Management appears unperturbed by the move many believe will lead to the collapse of the over 20-year-old investment firm.

The company insists the move by the Securities and Exchanges Commission will result in the amicable settlement of all existing challenges it has with some of its clients.

Below is the full statement by the by the Gold Coast Fund Management ‘wholeheartedly’ welcoming the move by SEC as copied to http://www.abcnewsgh.com

Gold Coast welcomes moves by SEC to restore investor confidence Accra, April 16, 2019 –

Gold Coast Fund Management (GCFM) welcomes confirmation by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it is seriously engaging with the company to find a lasting solution to the liquidity crisis faced by it.

The Commission has revealed they have received and started reviewing proposals from GCFM, the biggest fund manager, on how they hope to meet payment obligations to their customers and investors.

The news came via a statement released by the SEC which said, “The Commission is presently reviewing the viability and soundness of the proposals and wishes to assure all interested parties that it is doing so only in the interest of investor protection. GCFM has expressed optimism that the approval of its proposal would give their clients real value for their investment and provide a roadmap for other struggling fund management companies seeking solutions to their liquidity challenges.

General Manager, External Affairs and Investor Relations, Benjamin Afreh, said “we submitted Cardinal Offer as an investment option to our Structured Finance Product. We believe the Cardinal Offer will give our customers real value for their investment while helping to mitigate our liquidity challenges”

“The Cardinal Offer will be a medium to long term, liquid and value enhancing product. It will be made up of a bond and an equity offer. The bond portion of the fund will allow customers to continue to earn a predetermined return without violating the recent directives from the commission. By this, we are offering a solution to the SEC directive by leveraging on this investment asset”, added Afreh.

GCFM has so far paid nearly GHS70 million to aggrieved customers and various categories of clients and has shared details of these payments with the regulator.

In addition, GCFM is one of the few if not the only fund manager to have ceased taking new deposits for its Structured Finance product from investors since October 2018, in compliance with the regulator’s directive to the fund management industry to stop offering guaranteed rates.

The company is also taking firm and urgent steps to recover investments placed with other financial institutions and government infrastructure products. When government agencies pay contractors for work done, it will restore normal operations for GCFM.

Signed

Management,

Gold Coast Fund Management