The Chairman of Groupe Nduom, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has said that the operations of the financial subsidiaries of his conglomerate have improved significantly resulting in the release of the hitherto locked-up salaries of workers.
In reference to GN Bank, which was downgraded to GN Savings and Loans by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in 2018, Dr Nduom said some of the challenges have been addressed while others are being worked on.
“Some of the problems encountered last year have been solved. Others are being addressed. For example, workers’ salaries that were locked up have been released throughout the country,” he stated on his Facebook wall on Sunday, 11 August 2019.
He said there were now new products and transformation at GN Savings and Loans, and charged the government to pay back loans owed the financial institution while assuring the customers of the safety of their deposits.
Below is Dr Nduom’s full post:
Dr Nduom writes...What's happening at GN Bank/Savings?
GN Bank/Savings completed the six-month transition from universal bank to Savings and loans at the end of June, under the supervision of the Bank of Ghana. Products and services have been changed and a lot of restructuring has happened to ensure concentration on financial inclusion and strengthening the field operations. Some of the problems encountered last year have been solved. Others are being addressed. For example, workers’ salaries that were locked up have been released throughout the country. Selected branches are back to delivering remittance/money transfer services successfully.
We have introduced a concept we call LRB (Local/Regional Banking) using a Community Banking approach to make sure we work closely with the communities in which we are located. With this, new deposits made can be withdrawn without any restrictions. This has attracted old and new customers to actively transact business with us through new deposits. This new system is working and many individuals and companies who run national operations are transferring funds successfully from one town/region to another. One Community generated GHS2.2 million of new deposits in July. In many towns, we remain the only licensed financial institution to serve the needs of the people.
For the rest of the year, our attention will be on raising funds to unlock customer funds from “old deposits” (deposits made prior to this year). Our national retail footprint has enabled the company to find credible potential partners who when cleared by the Bank of Ghana, will invest new money. Existing shareholders have also pledged to put in new money to provide liquidity by the end of the year. Our consistent interactions with our loan customers is yielding positive results. What we collect is sent to our branches to meet customer needs.
I am confident that the revival of this business will continue. On 31 December 2018, this is what I shared publicly. Many people did not pay much attention to it. Here it is again:
“The Shareholders and Directors of GN Bank wish to inform our cherished customers and the general public that we have elected to continue our operations as a Savings & Loans Institution. This means that our doors will remain open for business as usual come January 2019. We have officially informed the Bank of Ghana and started the transition process.
This means that customer funds remain safe with us and leaves us to concentrate on ensuring maximum liquidity instead of raising funds for additional capital. We operated successfully as First National before, so we can assure our customers that with our attention back to managing the business instead of combing the world for additional capital, we are poised to deliver products and services beyond excellence.
It is important for us to note that one primary reason for this is the fact that millions of Government Infrastructure Project debt assigned to GN Bank have remained locked up. When the government begins paying back these funds, GN Bank will be a highly liquid financial institution...We began this journey in 1997 to create a national bank for all Ghanaians wherever they may live, capable of ensuring financial inclusion and bringing the unbanked into the formal sector. We have been honest about who we are – a Main Street Bank and not a High Street Bank.
It took the promoter, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom and the shareholder, Coconut Grove Beach Resort, nine years to obtain a license from the Bank of Ghana on May 8, 2006, to operate as a Savings and Loan Company under the brand name, First National Savings & Loans Company Limited. In 2006, Coconut Grove was joined by another Ghanaian shareholder, BB Acquisitions. GN Bank has two intertwined branches - traditional banking and Micro-Enterprise business. The power of the two makes our bank unique and special. It has taken hard work to be where we are, with 1.2 million customers and 10% of the retail outlets in banking at 300 locations.
From the very beginning, Our Vision has been, “To be a truly National Bank for the Ordinary person namely; Farmers, Professionals, Students, Workers, and Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs in Ghana.”
We have invested to go where other banks are not willing to go, to bring banking to people currently excluded from the formal banking system throughout the country.”
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Workers salary are still not paid.l have 5 months salary outstanding. Managers will always go and lied to him.Dr. will always sit in Accra asking for reports which managers cook for him. The reports dose not represent the reality on the ground. He should sack those his managers and so called Accounting people.
I am 69yrs old and a mental patient. I need my money for treatment. I forwarded you a letter from the Ankaful Psychiatric hospital confirming that I am a patient there. Pls I need my money.
My brother you are right.Nduom is not the problem but he was working with Bad Manager's who duped him and rather informed him the ordinary worker is a t'hieve. An example is his current vice prez. in the Groupe called NANA OFORI who is on Peace Fm every Monday Morning show.That Man is destroying all the companies one after the other.Mr Nduom it is not the Gov't but your BAD MANAGERS and those who hide behind your PPP and destroy your LEGACY.That vice destroyed Fresh Pak and slowly destroying the other companies in Elmina.
Mr Nduom my advise to you is that diSSOLVE your PPP and sack that your good for nothing Vice Prez. called Ofori Nana.They are destroying your legacy. He is destroying everything in your company.
Always blaming government as if you are the only financial institution in Ghana. Give us our money.
Please be fast and bring back our monies, me for instance I need the money to pay my school fees so please do all that you can do to bring back our monies.
@ Kpodo, stop your myopic lecture, very childish. The nation needs people like Nduom. If you have not failed in any business venture before, then you are a coward. Risk taking is not child's business. My advice to Nduom is to be bold and courageous. Infact, for investing into his own country and creating jobs to over thousands, that alone qualifies him to get elected as president. Even if he doesn't make it to the presidency, he has a legacy for posterity.
So, you see, the Banking reform is working. It is a matter of time everything will be back on track fully. Let's all help the government to weed out the miscreants banks and their selfish managements from the system. Ghana is working again!!
Dr. Nduom through GN Bank, Gold Coast Securities, Gold Coast Fund Management, Gold Coast Brokerage, Pen Trust and others, took depositors funds and formed over fifty other companies funded from these financial institutions instead of lending depositors monies other businesses to keep the bank and these savings and loans companies liquid. He operated football teams, stadium, media houses, quarries, packaging factories, logistics companies, and many more which were not high yielding as the banks. That was why the bank could not pay the depositors when requested by the customers. He is trying to put the blame on the gov't when in fact the government owes his bank very little amount as compared to what he owes his customers. He kept opening unrelated businesses with depositors monies without thinking about when they would ask for their money. He simply used his position and knowledge to dupe the customers. A friend of mine has his GHS290,000 locked up in Nduom's Gold Cost Fund Management for the past three years, and Nduom's now blaming Akuffo Addo? God save Ghana if we have people like Nduon trying to run as president for our country.