The Supreme Court of Ghana has upheld the decision by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to revoke the operating license of Unicredit Ghana Limited.
The unanimous decision by the court reversed the earlier decision made by the Court of Appeal and upheld the initial decision made by the High Court in Accra.
The BoG had declared UniCredit Ghana Limited insolvent on August 16, 2019, and subsequently revoked its license to operate as a savings and loans company under the provisions of the Banks and Specialised Deposit Taking Institutions Act of 2016 (Act 930).
Following the revocation of its license, the majority shareholder of UniCredit, Hoda Holdings Limited, filed a judicial review application at the High Court seeking to challenge the decision. The High Court, presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo, found that the BoG had followed the law correctly in revoking the license based on grounds of insolvency.
Subsequently, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the High Court, stating that the BoG failed to follow the correct procedures in revoking the license of UniCredit as outlined in the relevant legislation.
The BoG, dissatisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeal, took the matter to the Supreme Court for further review. A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, carefully reviewed the evidence and concluded that the revocation of UniCredit’s license was done in accordance with the law and upheld the decision of the High Court.
