GN Savings ruling poses fiscal and financial-stability risks – Amin Adam

Former Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, has warned that the Court of Appeal ruling ordering the restoration of GN Savings and Loans’ licence could expose Ghana to significant fiscal and financial-stability risks if not handled cautiously.

In a Facebook post on Friday, May 23, the Karaga MP said the ruling could trigger a wave of similar claims from other collapsed institutions, potentially exposing the state to compensation demands, depositor settlement disputes, asset-return claims, and recapitalisation pressures.

“Ghana is exiting an IMF ECF arrangement with very limited fiscal space. This is not the time to create open-ended contingent liabilities,” he cautioned.

Dr Amin Adam also raised concerns about moral hazard within the financial sector, warning that politically influenced reversals could weaken deterrence and encourage future financial institutions to disregard prudential standards.

According to him, the banking-sector clean-up had sent a strong signal that insolvency, weak governance, and depositor risks would attract consequences.

“If reversals are seen as politically driven, it risks telling future bank owners that regulatory breaches can be revisited once political conditions change,” he stated.

The former Finance Minister stressed that the restoration of a financial institution’s licence cannot automatically translate into a return to operations.

He argued that before any operational restart, regulators must conduct a fresh fit-and-proper assessment, capital adequacy review, asset-quality verification, liquidity assessment, governance review, and depositor-protection evaluation.

“Anything less would expose depositors and the broader system to avoidable risks,” he added.

Dr Amin Adam further warned that Ghana’s credibility after exiting the IMF programme would depend not only on fiscal indicators but also on the durability of institutional reforms.

المصدر: MyJoyOnline (GH)