The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has directed defaulting savings and loans companies to publish their accounts with immediate effect.
Head of Banking Supervision at the BoG, Mr Raymond Amanfu maintained that the public must see the performance of the savings and loans companies and make judgments for themselves as to where they will place their investments or do business with them
This was at the 7th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Association of Savings and Loans Companies (GHASALC).
Less than 35 per cent out of 37 savings and loans companies have published their 2016 audited financial results, Business Finder understands.
They include Beige which is now a fully-fledged bank, uniCredit, Opportunity International, Advans and First Allied.
New entrants such as Equity Savings & Loans, Golden Link Savings & Loans and Adom Savings & Loans will be spared until next year since they just began business less than a year.
According to Mr Amanfu, failure on the part of the firms to publish their accounts by end of July this year will attract monetary sanctions, adding, “they will pay the penalty till they publish the accounts.”
The savings and loans companies were created to bridge the gap between the formal banking stream and the informal sector of the economy, a condition which calls for strict regulation.
By law, there are also to publish or disclose their financial accounts every quarterly, whilst not undertaking certain banking transactions.
However, some are flouting the law by going to the extent of giving huge credit facilities to customers, beyond their single obligor.
These, many market watchers have expressed concerns about Bank of Ghana’s laxity in strictly enforcing the law on S&Ls and microfinance companies, citing the DKM fiasco as a typical example.
The Banking industry is the only sector that is strictly regulated by the regulator, with banks made to publish their financials every year and semi-annually.
The Bank also regularly updates the public with the Banking Sector Report as well as the Monetary Policy Report. This to a large extent has reposed confidence in the banking industry.
Out of the 37, S&Ls, four including Multi Credit Savings & Loans have its corporate head offices in Kumasi. All the other shave their corporate head offices in Accra.
Some notable savings and loans companies in Ghana are Bond, Seed Funds and Midland Savings and Loans.
The Finder