A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal has unanimously overturned the Bank of Ghana’s 2019 decision to revoke the licence of GN Savings and Loans Company Limited, describing the move as unfair and unreasonable, and ordering that control of the company be returned to its shareholders.
The ruling, delivered in Accra on Thursday, also sets aside a January 2024 High Court judgment that upheld the revocation. The decision marks the most significant legal challenge yet to the Bank of Ghana’s controversial banking sector clean-up exercise carried out between 2018 and 2019.
The court directed Receiver Eric Nana Nipah to hand over possession, management and control of the company back to shareholders led by Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, founder of Groupe Nduom.
In practical terms, the judgment nullifies the 2019 revocation order, the receivership process that followed, and the later High Court endorsement of those actions. Legally, GN Savings and Loans regains its status as a licensed financial institution, although resuming operations may still require further regulatory processes and recapitalisation.
The dispute dates back to January 2019, when the Bank of Ghana downgraded GN Bank into a savings and loans company over alleged breaches of prudential requirements, including capital inadequacy, liquidity challenges and governance concerns. Seven months later, the central bank revoked its licence entirely as part of the broader financial sector reforms introduced under former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
At the time, the Bank of Ghana argued that GN Savings and Loans had a negative capital adequacy ratio, weak financial standing and regulatory breaches involving related-party transactions and foreign exchange violations.
However, Groupe Nduom consistently rejected those claims, insisting the institution remained solvent and that government arrears owed to affiliated companies had created temporary liquidity pressures. The company further argued that the revocation was politically motivated and discriminatory.
The legal battle began in August 2019 when Dr Nduom and other shareholders challenged the decision at the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court. The case faced years of delays, including jurisdictional disputes that eventually reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2023 that the High Court had authority to hear the matter.
In January 2024, the High Court dismissed the shareholders’ application and upheld the central bank’s actions. The shareholders immediately appealed the ruling.
The appeal drew widespread public attention throughout 2025 and early 2026, fuelled by repeated social media claims that GN Bank’s licence had already been restored. Those reports were repeatedly denied by the Bank of Ghana and fact-checking organisations.
Tensions intensified in February 2026 after comments attributed to Bank of Ghana Governor Johnson Asiama appeared to dismiss the possibility of reinstatement. Groupe Nduom disputed the remarks, insisting the legal process was still ongoing.
Following hearings in February this year, the Court of Appeal delivered its ruling on Thursday in favour of the shareholders.
The Bank of Ghana is yet to publicly respond, but legal analysts expect the central bank to seek a stay of execution and potentially challenge the decision at the Supreme Court.
The judgment is expected to have wider implications for other financial institutions affected by the banking sector clean-up, as it represents the first appellate ruling declaring one of the revocations unreasonable.
For Groupe Nduom and former GN employees who have campaigned for restoration over the past six years, the ruling represents a major legal victory and a significant step toward rebuilding the institution.
For the Bank of Ghana, the ruling represents its strongest judicial setback yet over the banking sector clean-up, coming at a time when political sentiment has increasingly turned against how the previous administration handled the exercise.