It seems customers of former Gold Coast Fund Management now Black Shield Fund Management may have to exercise a bit more restraint because the company is still hopeful that they will be paid.
These disgruntled customers who want their investments retrieved continue to pile pressure on the company despite the initial assurances given.
In a series of protests, the customers decried the untold hardships brought on them due to the locked-up funds.
They also accused the leadership of the company of taking them for granted by showing no concern to their financial woes.
But, Benjamin Kofi Afreh who speaks for Gold Coast Fund Management admitted on The Point of View last Wednesday that, the company shares in the plight of customers and will explore every available option to ensure that every dime it owes is duly settled.
“It is an unfortunate situation that we find ourselves in. This is a company that has created real value for people for the past 26 years – a company that through some of its pre-financing has done some real work of development to serve the communities out there. It is a difficult situation but I take consolation in the fact that we will be here to work with our customers to ensure that we pay everybody and nobody will lose any pesewa of their investments. Whatever management has to do to ensure that we raise the needed funds to pay, I am sure the company will do,” he said.
Pay us if you owe us – Gold Coast begs
The company also believes that it will be able to pay all its debts if state and private institutions it gave funds to pay back such monies.
Mr. Afreh, therefore, used the occasion to plead with such entities to do what is required of them in a bid to also bring relief to its angry clients.
“I can only plead that anybody who owes us – be it agencies of government or private sector, anyone who owes us should also make it a point to pay what is due so that we can pay our customers as well.”
Be calm, we’ll let Gold Coast pay your monies – SEC to customers
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called for calm among the aggrieved customers saying it is working to ensure that the locked-up investments of clients are retrieved.
Head of Policy and Research at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ashong Katai indicated that the Commission was committed to ensuring that customers of Gold Coast Fund Management get back their cash.
“We can revoke the license of Gold Coast and do other things but will that solve the problem? The underlying problem is client money. That is the crux of the matter. We can arrest the directors but will they get the money? We want the clients to get their monies back because if investors lose their monies, market confidence will crash. And when confidence is crashed, the whole capital market will crash and we don’t want to get there.
