Collapsing UT Bank was a wrong decision – Kofi Amoabeng

The founder of defunct UT Bank, Captain Prince Kofi Amoabeng (Rtd) has reiterated that the decision to collapse the financial institution by the Bank of Ghana was wrong.

Mr Amoabeng maintains that the cost of collapsing UT Bank and other banks in 2017 could have been channelled into saving the indigenous bank.

“I still maintain that it was a wrong decision for them to collapse it. I wasn’t even the CEO at the time. Ghana is now going for a bailout, and we couldn’t bail out a successful company, but I am saying it depends on the kind of reports that went to the authorities probably it was mixed with all sorts of negative things which were not true.

“A bailout was necessary because if a bank owes the government about GH¢800 million and you use GH¢2.2 billion to collapse it then that money could have been given to the bank for it to restructure under your supervision and let them pay over a period of 5 years’.

“All the banks in the US that were bailed out in 2008 have all paid up and are now strong again,” Mr Amoabeng said on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, February 20.

Mr Amoabeng, however, added that he is not hurt by the decision of the Central Bank to collapse his bank adding that it is not his intention to dwell on the past.

Mr Amoabeng is expected to launch Volume 2 of his book, “The UT Story: Humble Beginnings” at the Marriott Hotel on Wednesday, February 22, 2023.

Captain Amoabeng in Part 2 of the book, delves into the background details that led to the establishment of UT Bank and also provides insight into his leadership skills at the Financial institution.