The Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) is demanding that the Bank of Ghana intensifies its supervisory role of the microfinance sector and avert another debacle in the sector.
[contextly_sidebar id=”CtthXUxDczy28Z9oLFbJhhziXPWKQAM7″]According to the Institute, the negligence of the Central Bank and other regulatory bodies could be blamed for the persistent fraud cases recorded in the microfinance sector.
President of the Institute, Professor Kwame Boasiako Omane- Antwi believes the country’s economy could also benefit hugely as it would be absolved of the huge losses associated with the development.
‘‘Quality supervision in the financial sector is indeed the best way of ensuring economic development and growth but here we need to make sure we can protect the consumer and protection of the consumer comes with strong regulatory measures and this is where Bank of Ghana comes in,” he stated.
Professor Omane Antwi added, “We have all witnessed what happened and the various reports that have come from the Bank of Ghana; it is because of them that we realize that supervision needs to be improved.”
The comments also follow recent reports that customers of DKM microfinance and God is Love Fun Club have been swindled of their investments running into millions of cedis.
Though the Bank of Ghana has stepped in to help the customers retrieve their monies, their efforts are yet to yield any significant results.
The Central Bank is also yet to conclude a process led by the Auditor General’s Department to liquidate the assets and repay customers their locked up investments.
Meanwhile Professor Omane- Antwi has assured of the Institute’s support to develop strategies to improve the financial sector.
“As an accountancy body, we have thought it wise to put this on a hot burner by making sure that we will come together. The accountancy body, Institute of Accounting Ghana, the Bank of Ghana and any stakeholder that has interest in the financial service sector to debate it and come out with lessons that will help to actually improve the financial safety sector,” he assured.
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By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana