The Court of Appeal has unanimously overturned a High Court decision that upheld the revocation of the licence of GN Savings and Loans Company Limited, paving the way for the restoration of the institution’s operations.
The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal ruled that the decision by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to revoke the company’s licence was unfair and unreasonable.
Consequently, the appellate court quashed both the revocation decision and the earlier High Court judgment that had affirmed the central bank’s action.
By the ruling, the receiver appointed to manage the affairs of the company has been ordered to hand over possession, management, control of assets, and all operational activities of the institution back to its shareholders.
The judgment marks a major development in one of the most closely watched legal disputes arising from Ghana’s banking sector clean-up exercise initiated in 2018 and 2019.
GN Bank Limited was reclassified as a savings and loans company on January 4, 2019, and subsequently renamed GN Savings and Loans Company Limited. However, just seven months later, on August 16, 2019, the Bank of Ghana, under the leadership of former Governor Dr. Ernest Addison, revoked the company’s operating licence and appointed Eric Nana Nipah as receiver.
The revocation formed part of a broader financial sector reform programme aimed at addressing insolvency, governance failures and capital adequacy concerns within Ghana’s banking and specialised deposit-taking sectors.
Following the revocation, Groupe Nduom, led by businessman Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, challenged the decision at the High Court in Accra, arguing that the action was unlawful and procedurally flawed.
In January 2024, the High Court ruled in favour of the Bank of Ghana and upheld the revocation. Groupe Nduom subsequently filed an appeal.
Earlier this year, Groupe Nduom insisted that the matter remained active before the courts and rejected claims that the possibility of restoring the licence had been conclusively ruled out. The group maintained that the substantive issues surrounding the revocation had not been finally determined by the Supreme Court.
The Bank of Ghana is yet to officially respond to the Court of Appeal’s decision.
