More than 20,000 aggrieved customers of First Fund, an investment scheme once managed by the now-defunct First Banc Financial Services, are threatening to hit the streets if the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fails to release their locked-up funds within two weeks.
Six years after SEC revoked the license of First Banc in 2019, investors say they have yet to access over GH¢170 million in savings, despite multiple assurances and the appointment of three successive fund managers.
The regulator first handed the fund to TTL, which failed to disburse any money. OctaneDC was later appointed, but also did not deliver. The current manager, SEM Capital Advisors, is still reconciling accounts before any payments can be made a delay that customers say has deepened frustration and eroded confidence.
“If you take a critical look at the report issued by OctaneDC, it clearly specifies where some of our funds were invested, and yet the board of First Fund cannot account for these funds. What is even worrying per the report is that a commercial paper investment which is usually between the investment company and another institution totalling GHS36 million cannot be accounted for,” said Johnny Kwabena Nketiah, co-convener of the group of aggrieved investors.
He warned that a demonstration is imminent if SEC fails to act swiftly, describing the saga as a serious question of transparency and accountability.
“Our customers need the money. Letters we have written to SEC and the Company Board have proven futile. The Board doesn’t care about us. No one knows where the money is although we understand some are in active accounts running. The only language they understand is demonstration. If nothing changes in two weeks, we will protest,” he told Citi Business News.
The group says it will also petition Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, appealing to him to intervene, while calling on President John Dramani Mahama and the government to step in with a bailout.
“There’s no hope in sight. We believe in the new SEC management and the Board chaired by Dr. Adu Anane-Antwi. We are also calling on the government to bail us out, take over the funds, and help us recover our money,” Mr. Nketiah added.
The standoff underscores lingering investor anxieties in Ghana’s capital market years after the financial sector clean-up, which saw dozens of fund managers lose their licences. Analysts warn that unless transparency and accountability are restored, trust in investment schemes may suffer lasting damage.
