Business News of Thursday, 7 July 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-07-07Court of Appeal rules revocation of UniCredit’s license by BoG was unlawful
Unicredit Ghana Limited has its operating license revoked in 2019
BoG undertakes banking sector clean-up in 2017
HODA Holdings files injunction against BoG
HODA Holdings proceeds to Court of Appeal for ruling
A Court of Appeal in Accra has overturned the decision by the Bank of Ghana to revoke the license of UniCredit Ghana Limited.
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The financial institution had its licence revoked in 2019, as part of a clean-up exercise undertaken by the central bank pursuant to Section 123 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).
But the parent company for UniCredit, HODA Holdings Limited in a writ filed on Monday, August 19, 2019, sought an interlocutory injunction against the Bank of Ghana from interfering with its operations pending arbitration.
In a recent development, the Court of Appeal has ruled that the Central Bank's decision was an unlawful exercise of its power.
The unanimous decision was presided by a three member of the court led by Justice Gbiel Suurbaare as President on July 7. Other members of the Panel were Justices Merley Afua Wood and Janapare Bartel.
“The Court of Appeal has, this morning, declared the decision of Bank of Ghana to revoke the license of Unicredit as an unlawful exercise of its powers and has, therefore … quashed the revocation of Unicredit Ghana Limited’s license which was contained in Bank of Ghana’s notice dated 16th August 2019,” parts of a series of tweets shared by Accra-based GHOne TV read.
As part of measures to sanitize the banking sector, the Bank of Ghana in August 2019 revoked the licenses of 23 insolvent savings and loans companies and finance houses.
This included UniCredit which was affiliated with Unibank which also had its license revoked by the central bank after it determined the institution was insolvent.
In 2020, the High Court (Human Rights Division) presided over by Her Ladyship Gifty Adjei Addo, dismissed a Judicial Review application filed by HODA Holding against the Bank of Ghana due to the revocation of UniCredit’s operating license.
The parent company for UniCredit following the dismissal then proceed to the Court of Appeal in a move to challenge the High Court’s ruling.
MA/DA
