The ARB Apex Bank says it is not fully satisfied with the release of some 1.5 billion Ghana cedis by the government to pay customers affected by the banking sector clean-up exercise.

President Akufo-Addo in June 2024 tasked the Finance Ministry to effect the disbursement of the funds to ease financial burden on the aggrieved customers.

According to the supervisory bank for rural and community banks, over 350 million Ghana cedis have been locked-up following the financial sector clean-up.

Board Chair of the ARB Apex Bank, Dr. Anthony Aubynn, says the amount released is inadequate as these unpaid funds continue to be a bane on the operations of the banks.

He was speaking at the 22nd annual general meeting of the bank in Kumasi.

“We were excited to hear, even though not fully excited that the government has now released 1.5 billion cedis to pay part of the locked-up funds. It is not enough. The rural banks have about 350 million cedis in locked-up funds. These banks aren’t making enough profits, so if you have this big amount locked up, do you know how much this could affect the resources of the banks?” he quizzed.

The government has however capped its original allocation of 4.5 billion cedis for the financial sector cleanup payments to 3.5 billion cedis.

This was announced by the Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam during his Mid-year budget review presentation to Parliament.

The amount is expected to be paid in tranches with the current release being the first subset of the total allocation.

Dr. Aubynn wants the government to take an exceptional look at the rural banking sub-sector by granting them a dispensation from similar exercises.

He believes the sub-sector is the backbone of the Ghanaian economy as they serve the larger workforce.

“We continue to appeal to the government that the rural banks really impact the real economy. We give loans to farmers, carpenters, small and medium scale businesses. We are the interface to the real sector of our economy. We need to be given special dispensation. I think this seems to be lost on the government. We extend the financial inclusion to people who are in remote areas. The rural banks need to be seen in a different light,” he said.

Meanwhile, management is working closely to retrieve the locked-up funds as they engage the appropriate quarters on the matter.

“The Association of Rural Banks has continuously engaged the government, and the Security and Exchange Commission,” he assured shareholders of the bank.

To boost development of the sub-sector, the bank has secured a five-year on-lending facility agreement of 4 million dollars with the Ministry of Finance and Social Investment Fund (SIF) under the Post Covid-19 Development and Productivity Enhancement Project (PSDPEP) for disbursement through rural and community banks and other institutions.

Dr. Aubynn revealed the first tranche of the amount has been received.

“The first tranche of 11.85 million cedis has been received, and the RCBs that are yet to join the project are encouraged to do so in good time to be able to reap the associated benefits when the remaining amount of 3 million dollars is released for disbursement,” he said.