GH¢5.5bn approved by Parliament not only for Blackshield customers – SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected claims that the GH¢5.5 billion approved by Parliament in 2021 to settle owed customers of defunct fund management companies is only for Defunct Gold Coast Management, now Blackshield customers.

According to the SEC, the approved funds are for all investors in the 47 fund management companies that were closed down by the regulator.

The clarification follows comments from some Blackshield Fund Management clients who suggested that the funds should only be distributed to fund investors.

“The update received by the SEC from the implementing agencies of the Bailout is that so far, GH¢4.6 billion has been allocated as follows: GH¢3.1 billion to Amalgamated Fund Tier 1 payments and GH¢1.45 billion assigned to Amalgamated Fund Tier 2 payments.”

“This disbursement includes the partial bailout program which entailed the payment of a sum of up to GH¢50,000 to clients of Blackshield/Gold Coast and other companies who had not received Winding up orders from the Court by October 2020 but whose claims had been validated. The total amount paid to Blackshield clients in the partial bailout is GH¢1.34 billion covering a total of 73,541 investors. Out of this amount, a total amount of GH¢757,539,141 has been used to fully settle 61,734 customers of Blackshield”, a release from the regulator clarified.

According to the SEC statement, all investors with validated claims have been contacted by Amalgamated Fund and GCB Capital Limited for further action.

The SEC also assured Blackshield Fund Management customers of its ongoing compliance.

The SEC revoked the licenses of some 53 fund management companies, which according to them was to protect the integrity of the securities market and investors.

The disgruntled customers have embarked on a series of protests to push for the government’s intervention in retrieving their funds from BlackShield Fund Management after the SEC announced a bailout package for clients of the collapsed companies.