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The Bank of Ghana is set to appeal a decision by a Court of Appeal in Accra which ruled in favour of UniCredit Ghana Limited.
The decision by the central bank comes after a ruling on July 7 determined that the financial sector regulator acted unlawfully in the revocation of the operating licence for UniCredit back in 2019.
Hours after the ruling was handed down, BoG appears to stand by its decision to revoke the license and has since instructed its lawyers to appeal the ruling.
This, sources at the Bank say, is in the interest of promoting financial stability.
However, the Receiver of UniCredit will continue to perform its statutory functions while the appeal processes are filed by the BoG.
Background
In 2019, UniCredit had its licence revoked as part of a clean-up exercise undertaken by the central bank pursuant to Section 123 (1) of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).
The move, according to BoG formed part of measures to sanitize the banking sector. The exercise saw the revocation of licenses for 23 insolvent savings and loans companies and finance houses.
But the parent company for UniCredit, HODA Holdings Limited in a writ filed on Monday, August 19, 2019, sought an interlocutory injunction against the Bank of Ghana from interfering with its operations pending arbitration.
In 2020, the High Court (Human Rights Division) presided over by Her Ladyship Gifty Adjei Addo, dismissed a Judicial Review application filed by HODA Holding against the Bank of Ghana due to the revocation of UniCredit’s operating license.
The parent company for UniCredit following the dismissal then proceeded to the Court of Appeal in a move to challenge the High Court’s ruling.
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