Supreme Court Ruling Ends Hopes of GN Bank Revival – BoG Governor
Former Minister and presidential aspirant, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, has suffered a major blow in efforts to revive the defunct GN Bank, after the Bank of Ghana (BoG) definitively ruled out the restoration of the institution’s banking licence.
Dr. Nduom had earlier expressed optimism that the new administration under President John Dramani Mahama would review the circumstances surrounding the revocation of the bank’s licence and support its reinstatement.
“I am hopeful that this new administration will recognise the value we brought to the sector and work with us to restore what was unfairly taken away,” he said at the 30th anniversary celebration of Coconut Grove Beach Resort in Elmina.
However, the central bank has now made it clear that the matter has been conclusively settled.
Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiama, speaking in a recent interview, said the Supreme Court has already ruled on the issue, with subsequent attempts at review failing.
“There is a Supreme Court ruling on that matter. The review also failed. So, nothing can be done,” Dr. Asiama stated.
Financial sector clean-up fallout
GN Bank’s licence was revoked in 2019 during the Bank of Ghana’s financial sector clean-up, a sweeping reform exercise that led to the closure of several banks, savings and loans companies, microfinance institutions and investment firms.
The central bank justified the clean-up as a necessary step to safeguard financial stability, citing insolvency, weak governance structures and inadequate capitalisation across parts of the sector.
GN Bank, which started operations in 1997 as First National Savings and Loans, was granted a universal banking licence in 2014. The bank expanded rapidly nationwide, branding itself as the “People’s Bank” and building one of the largest branch networks in the country.
Regulators, however, argued that the pace of expansion was not supported by sufficient capital buffers. In August 2019, the bank was downgraded to a savings and loans company before its licence was eventually revoked.
Disputed narrative
Dr. Nduom has consistently disputed the regulator’s position, attributing GN Bank’s liquidity challenges to the government’s failure at the time to pay arrears owed to contractors, many of whom were customers of the bank.
He has argued that the settlement of those obligations would have kept the institution solvent.
Despite persistent speculation in sections of the media that a deal could be struck to restore the licence, the BoG Governor’s comments suggest the regulatory door is firmly shut.
Dr. Asiama noted that while the central bank remains open to considering new licence applications, such applications must not be linked to the directors or management of the defunct GN Savings and Loans.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to overturn its earlier decision appears to represent the final legal barrier to any revival of GN Bank.
