Former Member of Parliament for Ablekuma Central, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, has indicated that the Bank of Ghana has not played its supervisory role in the banking sector effectively.

For him, if the Central Bank had played its role well, the closure of the UT and Capital banks would not have occurred.

The Bank of Ghana announced that GCB Bank has taken over UT Bank Ltd and Capital Bank Ltd as the two banks were struggling to operate financially.

A statement issued by the Central Bank said: “The Bank of Ghana has approved a Purchase and Assumption transaction with GCB Bank Limited that transfers all deposits and selected assets of UT Bank Ltd and Capital Bank Ltd to GCB Bank Ltd. The Bank of Ghana has revoked the licenses of UT Bank Ltd and Capital Bank Ltd. This action has become necessary due to severe impalement of their capital. The remaining assets and liabilities will be realised and settled respectively through a receivership process to be undertaken by Messers Vish Ashiagbor and Eric Nana Nipah of PricewaterhouseCoopers.”

Commenting on this development on TV3’s New Day programme on Saturday, Mr Tetteh Chaie said: “The Bank of Ghana has not been proactive in terms of supervision, in terms of ensuring that people adhere to the rules and regulation.

“The effect of this takeover is not a thing to joke with. In this country when did we have that culture of savings? It took the hard work of some of these banks to build that savings culture and so are we going to allow this to reduce the confidence? No. That is why we need an immediate investigation.”