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Aggrieved customers of First Fund, an investment scheme formerly managed by the now-defunct First Banc Financial Services, have issued a two-week ultimatum to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to release their locked-up funds or face a massive protest.
More than 20,000 investors have been unable to access their savings—estimated at over GH¢170 million—six years after SEC revoked the license of the fund manager in 2019.
The investors accuse SEC of dragging its feet despite appointing three different fund managers to oversee payments.
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- TTL was first given the mandate but failed to disburse any money.
- OctaneDC was then appointed but also delivered no results.
- The current manager, SEM Capital Advisors, is still reconciling accounts, with no clear timeline for payment.
“If you take a critical look at the report issued by OctaneDC, it clearly specifies where some of our funds were invested, and yet the board of First Fund cannot account for these funds. What is even more worrying, per the report, is that a commercial paper investment totalling GH¢36 million cannot be accounted for,” co-convener of the group, Johnny Kwabena Nketiah, told Citi Business News.
Mr Nketiah warned that if SEC fails to act, a demonstration is imminent.
“Our customers need the money. Letters we have written to the SEC and the Company Board have proven futile. The Board doesn’t care about us. No one knows where the money is, although we understand some are in active accounts running. The only language they understand is demonstration. If nothing changes in two weeks, we will protest,” he declared.
The customers say they will petition Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson to intervene and have also appealed to President John Dramani Mahama and the government to step in.
“There’s no hope in sight. We believe in the new SEC management and the Board chaired by Dr Adu Anane-Antwi. We are also calling on the government to bail us out, take over the funds, and help us recover our money,” Mr Nketiah added.
The standoff adds to mounting pressure on SEC’s new leadership to rebuild trust in Ghana’s investment industry, which has been rattled by the 2019 financial sector clean-up that left thousands of investors stranded.
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