The Executive Director of Riscovery Insurance Brokerage, Dr Dan Seddoh, has taken on regulators of financial institutions for leaving customers high and dry when government initiated its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

According to Dr Seddoh, regulators need to “up their game” in protecting customers since they provide the money used for investment.

He said this at the Graphic Business/ Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting which was themed “Domestic Debt Exchange: Lessons and Implications for how you invest” on Tuesday.

“When you are speaking from the customers’ perspective, the regulators really do not protect customers and the regulators need to be told in the face that they need to up their game.

“It is the customers that come with the money that is invested and it is not the government that needs to be protected,” he said on Tuesday.

The Executive Director also indicated that the government is “too big” to protect, thus, regulators siding with government will only “create more problems.”

 “We need to get the regulators to appreciate the fact that they need the investors so they should work with the investors rather than the government,” he added.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, launched the domestic debt exchange programme in early December 2022 as part of effort to meet the conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund.

However, the Minister struggled to convince bondholders to register, due to a lack of clarity regarding the programme’s terms and profitability.

The programme’s initial deadline for participation by bondholders was December 19. However, due to the failure to reach an agreement, it was adjourned to December 30, 2022.

The deadline was once again extended to January 16, 2023, in order to “secure internal approvals” from the financial sector, but it was further adjourned to a final date of February 10, 2023.

During this period, there were series of picketing and demonstration by various groups and unions to register their displeasure over being compelled to be part of the DDEP.

The notable one was the group of pensioners who picketed in front of the Finance Ministry for one week.

They were joined by the former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo. They successfully got their plea heard and government excluded them from the debt exchange.