Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister for Finance, has announced that his outfit has processed GHS700 million of the additional GHS1.5 billion for bailouts to investors of defunct asset management companies, including Black Shield. The minister said he had instructed the controller and accountant-general to release the funds to mitigate the stress on affected persons. The announcement was made at the monthly press briefing on Ghana's economy and an update on payments to defunct fund management companies. The Security and Exchange Commission revoked the licenses of fifty-three (53) fund management companies, including Black Shield. The Commission cited several regulatory breaches, including the inability to return the client's fund estimated at GHS 8 billion, noting that the licenses were revoked to protect investors and the integrity of the capital market. However, investors of the defunct companies have been persistently picketing the office of MOF for their locked-up funds to be paid. In a related news re port by the Ghana News Agency, the investors bemoaned the suffering occasioned by the revocation of the licenses of the defunct asset management companies. The GHS1.5 billion, the minister said, would be released in three tranches noting that this amount will bring the number of investors to be fully settled under Blackshield to over 82,000. According to the minister, the disbursement represented 92 per cent and over 12,000, representing 78 per cent of the rest of the companies. He said this would bring the total number of investors fully settled under the bailout scheme to 94,165, representing 90 per cent of the total validated claims of 105,000. This intervention, he mentioned, was being done despite the tight fiscal space, adding that it was evidence of the government's commitment to provide relief to investors in the defunct AMCs, especially the pensioners. Source: Ghana News Agency