PwC Director to support Bank of Ghana implement insolvency procedures

The Bank of Ghana is clamping down on insolvent financiers in the country, and is looking to wind down these operations smoothly. To this end, the bank has appointed Director at PwC’s Forensic practice Eric Nana Nipah to help ensure that the assets are realised to their full potential.

Nipah is a highly experienced specialist in the accounting domain, who has a professional career that spans nearly two decades, one of which has been spent at Big Four accounting and advisory firm PwC. During his time at the firm, his primary area of expertise has been forensics and insolvency.

He is now a Partner & Deals Leader for Ghana at PwC Nigeria, in addition to being a Director at PwC’s Forensics practice in Ghana. His wealth of experience and standing in the professional services environment has now won him the assignment of handling the insolvency proceedings initiated by the Bank of Ghana.

The project concerns 23 companies that fall under the Savings, Loans and Finance Houses category, all of which have had their licenses revoked by the Bank of Ghana. The institutions have been deemed beyond recovery by the bank, and therefore represent a risk to the overall economy. 

This comes amid a period of dynamism for the banking sector, not only in Ghana but across the rest of Africa. The sector is highly profitable, but is increasingly subject to competition from international firms, displacement from smaller domestic firms, and disruption in the regulatory and technological domains. As a result, a number of financial institutions are struggling to stay afloat.

“The revocation of the licenses of these institutions has become necessary because they are insolvent even after a reasonable period within which the Bank of Ghana has engaged with them in the hope that they would be recapitalised by their shareholders to return them to solvency,” said the Bank of Ghana in a statement.

Nipah’s role in this scenario is twofold. He will not only ensure that the creditors and depositors draw the fullest benefit from the assets in question, but will also oversee the distribution of these assets in line with the relevant legislations. To carry out these two roles, Nipah will have to establish a Creditor Administration process.

This process is expected to contain a number of different aspects, including Proof of Debt documents from the various depositors and creditors, to help establish their claim to assets. Nipah will then have to ensure that these claims align with the records at the institutions in question. He will then oversee the process of paying dividends to creditors.