Late on Friday afternoon, as workers were packing their stuff to head home for a well-deserved weekend, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped a bombshell which could mean some of the workers would have no reason to return to work on Monday. The regulator announced the revocation of the licenses of 53 fund managers and left the investment community shocked.

The revocation is the latest embarrassing episode in the finance industry after regulators had swooped down on banks, savings & loans companies and microfinance companies over the last 2 years. It has been a dark time for investors and workers in the finance industry and there is a need for a comprehensive analysis of how everything went wrong.

But in this post I will explain the options available to people who have funds in any of the 53 firms which have been effectively shut down by the SEC.

1. Investors should click on this link to download the list from SEC showing the Consolidated Bank of Ghana branch in which they can go validate their claims.
2. UPDATE: The deadline for submission of claims is December 18, 2019. Download the claims form here.
3. The SEC will announce an official liquidator who will work with the government to pay a “capped amount” to investors in the affected firms. What this means is that a maximum sum would be paid to all investors whose claims have been validated.
4. The liquidator will work with the Registrar General to liquidate the assets of the investment firms through a court procedure in order to settle the claims of the investors.
5. Investors in government securities such as treasury bills or government bonds, and investors in mutual funds are likely to be able to retrieve their funds earlier as investment firms usually keep these securities with third parties. Investors in other types of investments with these firms would be paid through the realization of assets as described in (3) above.
6. People with money in these firms would do well to gather details of their investments in order to be able to quickly fill the forms for validation of their claims and eventual payment.

At this point in time, calm is required on the part of the investors. The SEC has taken or is taking over the premises of the affected firms and there would be nothing gained on the part of the investors by storming the offices.