Trust Bank officials refund GH¢10m redundancy package after Ecobank’s acquisition

The  management of Ecobank has forced 10 top members of the executive management of the Trust Bank (TTB) to refund the GH¢10 million they awarded to themselves as redundancy package after the acquisition of the bank by Ecobank.

According to a source at the bank, upon detection of the anomalies in the payment of such huge amounts to the management staff, action was taken to retrieve the money, further disciplinary action taken against the TTB management staff involved and the Bank of Ghana accordingly notified.

The source said management of Ecobank was appalled by the action of the management of TTB in awarding such huge amounts to themselves.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur confirmed that his outfit has been informed about the development at TTB in the aftermath of its acquisition by Ecobank.

He said the central bank was seeking a framework to enhance future mergers and acquisitions.

The Managing Director of TTB, Mr Larry Yirenkyi-Boafo, was interdicted in December 2011 over the huge payments which were done on the blind side of the new owners, Ecobank.

Mr Yirenkyi-Boafo alone took home GH¢1.88 million  or $1.3 million, while his deputy bagged GH¢1.7 million with other executive management members taking home between GH¢900,000 and GH¢600,000, all representing more than 65 per cent of the bank’s profit for the whole of 2011.

Ecobank concluded the acquisition of TTB in a GH¢220-million deal last month and is due to hold an extraordinary general meeting later this month for shareholders’ approval.

The Ecobank source said though the interdicted boss of TTB had claimed the package was approved by the old board of TTB before its dissolution last month, there were no minutes to that effect.

It said the old Board of Directors of TTB did not make any provision for such huge payments.

The Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Mr Samuel Ashittey-Adjei, who chairs an interim eight-member board of TTB, said Mr Yirenkyi- Boafo and his deputy should first have cleared the payments with the interim board before effecting payments.

The eight-member board has four representatives from Ecobank and two from TTB. The board is expected to oversee the completion of the process of the take-over  of TTB by Ecobank.

TTB is expected to be rebranded as Ecobank by the first half of 2012.

Source: Daily Graphic

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