Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, says the restoration of the licence of GN Savings and Loans does not necessarily mean the institution has fully recovered, warning that rebuilding the bank and regaining public confidence would be a difficult task.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ Top Story on Thursday, May 21, Mr. Jackson explained that banking extends far beyond the legal restoration of an operating licence.

According to him, many people may assume the court ruling immediately restores the institution to full operation, but the reality is far more complex.

“A bank is not just a licence. A bank is a system. A bank is confidence. It is capitalization. It is governance. It is liquidity. It is regulatory supervision. It is even just the public perception of who you are,” he stated.

Mr. Jackson questioned whether all the operational and financial structures required for a functioning financial institution had been restored alongside the licence.

“Even though a licence has been restored, have all other things been restored?” he asked.

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He stressed that the ruling should rather be seen as the beginning of a recovery process instead of a complete revival of the institution. “This begins the process. It’s not that simple,” he noted.

The financial analyst argued that years of inactivity and uncertainty had significantly weakened the institution, making any return to the banking space extremely challenging.

“Resurrection of GN would be tough because the institution has been put to bed in a coma for all these years,” he remarked.

He further identified public trust as one of the most critical issues the company would have to address if it intends to return to active operations.

Mr. Jackson suggested that the company may need to pursue negotiated restructuring, recapitalisation, legal settlements and strategic partnerships in order to rebuild credibility and meet regulatory requirements.

“This is legal rehabilitation. This is the time for negotiated restructuring. This is the time for maybe even damage. This is the time for legal leverage and bringing in an external partner,” he stated.

He also indicated that GN Savings and Loans may not return in the same form it existed before the banking sector cleanup.

“GN Bank, as we knew it, may never come back the way we knew it. It may come back under a new licence, it may come back with new guys, but there are multiple hurdles to be faced with the central bank and its regulatory compliance,” he added.

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Mr. Jackson’s comments follow the unanimous decision by the Court of Appeal to restore the licence of GN Savings and Loans after overturning an earlier High Court ruling that upheld the revocation of the company’s licence during Ghana’s banking sector cleanup exercise in 2019.

The appellate court ruled that the decision by the Bank of Ghana to revoke the licence was unfair and unreasonable and subsequently ordered the receiver to hand over possession, management and control of the company’s assets and operations back to its shareholders.