The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison, has firmly stated that the licenses of banks revoked during the 2017-2019 financial sector reforms will not be reinstated while he is in office.
In a television interview with JoyNews on January 2, 2025, Dr. Addison addressed calls for the reinstatement of the revoked licenses, declaring, “As long as I remain Governor, none of those licenses will be reinstated.”
Dr. Addison made the statement in response to inquiries about whether the incoming government might consider reinstating the revoked licenses, following appeals from the shareholders of the affected banks.
He stressed that the decisions to revoke the licenses were based on comprehensive reviews of the institutions’ operations, many of which were found to have engaged in risky investments and mismanagement of depositor funds.
“These shareholders treated depositors’ money as their own, using it to fund personal businesses or invest in brick-and-mortar projects that were not liquid enough to make resources available when depositors needed their funds,” Dr Addison stated.
During the reform period, the central bank revoked the licenses of nine universal banks, 347 microfinance companies, 39 microcredit companies, 23 savings and loans firms, and eight finance houses. To ensure the continuity of banking services, some of these institutions were consolidated under Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG).
Dr. Addison highlighted the seriousness of the mismanagement within the collapsed institutions, emphasizing that such practices were a fundamental violation of banking principles.
“When I give you a banking license, I am giving you permission to take people’s money, not to treat it as your private property,” he said, reiterating that the BoG’s primary mandate is to protect depositors and maintain financial stability.
“These are not numbers we generated ourselves,” Dr. Addison said, referencing data from Ghana’s Statistical Service that confirms the reforms’ positive impact on the financial sector.
He criticized efforts to minimize the importance of the reforms and warned that reinstating revoked licenses would jeopardize the stability of the sector.
