Reading the financial data released this week by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), one could not help but stand up and give them a thumbs-up for strong financial indicators.

According to microeconomic data, the Cedi has appreciated strongly, with a year-on-year gain of 40+ per cent against the US Dollar. The monetary policy rate has been cut from 18 per cent to 15.5 per cent.

The data further indicate that public debt has declined by GHC40bn, domestic debt has dropped by about 22 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and external debt has also declined.

But what impacts us perhaps most, with direct benefits in one’s pocket, are the declines in interest rates and inflation, which are reportedly in single digits, while food inflation is said to have been contained.

These micro-level economic gains within a year are appreciable, and we are grateful, hoping the trend will continue. 

Regulator, mediator

However, we request that the Central Bank, as the regulator, review the performance of certain financial institutions under its purview. They have become thorns in the flesh of their customers, causing deep hurt and regret, which only BOG can address as a regulator and, perhaps, a mediator.

With relationships gone sour and customers having largely lost interest, one believes the BOG can address the problems of those institutions so they can also honour their obligations to loyal customers who, thinking ahead, once had confidence in them by putting their money in there for their future security.

It is almost absurd that, over the past six years or more, investors have been at a loss about the status of their investments in certain financial institutions, even as they needed to withdraw those funds, in whole or in part. The way issues have been left to travel this far, it begs the question as to whether BOG is on top of whatever the problem is and which is negatively impacting investors, including pensioners. 

At a time when microeconomic indicators are giving reassuring signals, is it not time for the Central Bank to also address the concerns of individuals whose life savings are locked up? If BOG has had confidence in these institutions and kept them in business, can they not listen to the pleas of the hurting customers?

One does not want to assume the Central Bank is unaware of what is happening with people’s investments. Customers have submitted claims for their money, sometimes in part to meet critical needs, yet months pass, and their requests remain unmet, with no one communicating with them. 

And if the individual investor is suffering this badly, one can only imagine that entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses that relied on those institutions for support because they could not afford bank borrowing must also be suffering, as funds are not forthcoming from those sectors.

The question will always remain whether the Central Bank, as a regulator and overseer, was aware of the cries of desperate customers of the financial institutions under its supervision, who were left to continue despite the financial clean-up exercise years ago. Can a reminder be sent to BoG that hundreds of customers have been abandoned and their funds are locked up, with no one speaking with them?

Painful endurance

It has been a painful ordeal, and some customers have given up due to the unnecessary stress, with no explanation forthcoming.

It has been a painful endurance, especially for those pensioners who, at the time of putting those monies aside, believed they were doing the right thing. They felt secured and what motivated them most was the fact that the BoG was regulating them on the market. 

Even during the banking crisis, some of those institutions were not targeted by the regulator, which gave the impression that they were sufficiently sound to remain in business. 

At the time, the Central Bank's actions and inactions were a powerful pillar on which these financial institutions stood, helping them attract even more investors.  And one believes they did too.

Having waited for years and watched the silence of these institutions' managers, it is clear that desperate investors seeking to withdraw their funds are, and have been, at a crossroads for too long.  They cannot wait any longer to see some action now that the regulator is seen as busy, resetting and reshaping at the micro level. May the resetting and reshaping agenda trickle down to help those whose forgotten investments are causing them anguish.

For now, one can only draw attention, in case they have forgotten, that for over six years, some financial institutions under their supervision have refused to pay their customers.

Their fervent prayer is for the regulator, BoG, to hear their petition and let their cry come unto them.

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You can reach the writer via email at vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com