UniBank Takeover: No Customer Will Lose Money – BoG

The Bank of Ghana has assured customers of uniBank that their savings are safe, despite handing over management of the financial outfit to KPMG.

The Central Bank, as regulators, said the audit firm will manage uniBank for at least six months, because the bank’s “capital adequacy ratio (CAR) has fallen below 50% of the required minimum of 10% (i.e. below 5%).”

“Under section 108 of Act 930, the Official Administrator is authorized to exercise a variety of powers to rehabilitate and return the bank to regulatory compliance within a period of six months, at the end of which the bank will be returned to private ownership and management,” a statement from the BoG said.

“The appointment by the Bank of Ghana of the official administrator is aimed at saving
UniBank from imminent collapse. It will prevent potential losses to depositors and other creditors, and ensure that the financial condition of the bank does not create further risks for the entire financial system,” it added.

Announcing the takeover, the Governor of the BoG, Dr. Ernest Addison, served notice “nobody will lose money.”

“The bank will continue to run as usual, all depositors’ funds are safe. Nobody will lose money. We’ve proven that earlier and nobody will lose money in this exercise. All that the Bank has done is to put in a new team to manage the bank. We are trying to save the bank from imminent collapse. We are saving an indigenous Ghanaian-owned bank,” Dr. Addison stated.