First Fund customers cry out for their locked up funds.
In November 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through a press release revoked the licenses of a dozen Mutual Fund Managers for which First Banc Limited, Managers of First Fund were affected.
The press release from SEC contained a message that gave hope to First Fund’s customers. We were assured by the presser that customers of First Fund will not be affected by the revocation of the license of First Banc Financial Services, thus, SEC will ensure that we are migrated to a new fund manager. The press release from SEC was signed by a Reverend Minister of God, Ogbamey Tetteh. Ironically, future events have shown that men of God can also deceive the flock.
In the last quarter of 2020, TTL Limited was appointed Fund Manager for First Fund. In August 2021, TTL Limited paid them a paltry 8% of First Fund Customers’ investment. Octane DC Limited took over the management of the fund from TTL in late 2021. The regulator, SEC, Board of the Fund, and Octane DC Limited have treated the customers of First Fund with disdain and utmost disrespect. Several letters to SEC and the Board for a meeting have been ignored.
In August 2022, the leadership of the First Fund Customers engaged the fund Manager, Octane DC Limited for a discussion centered on the management of the Fund and any possible redemptions. We were provided with data that showed the status of the Fund and how documents of some investment portfolios could not be accessed.
We believe that the difficulties shareholders are going through can be blamed on the Board of First Fund Limited. For example, out of the validated GHs54 million, Octane DC Limited needs certain documents to access GHs8 million which has been validated and paid to First Fund Account at Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB Bank). The documents needed are the Audited Account of the fund from 2019 to 2021 and a confirmation letter from the Auditor. These are documents that can easily be procured if the Board had called for an Annual General Meeting for which an Auditor would have been appointed to carry out such a task.
It is worth noting that, the last redemptions made by TTL and continued by Octane DC Limited were about GHs1 million. That redemption paid from July 2021 was able to mitigate the suffering of shareholders to a large extent. If GHs1 million could do such a thing, imagine what GHs8 million could have achieved. The GHs8 million could provide temporary relief to shareholders in the excruciating economic quagmire we find ourselves which has led to the death of some of our colleagues mostly pensioners who were unable to purchase medications for their survival.
We call on well-meaning Ghanaians and leaders in the country to come to the aid of customers of First Fund. Our hard-earned investments have yielded zero percent (0%) interest since November 2019. We are also not having access to our principal – where is our money?
Source: Contributor
About Author
