Ghana’s central bank is merging five troubled banks into one new lender, Consolidated Bank Ghana, its governor, Ernest Addison, announced on August 1.

Addison accused shareholders and senior managers at the various banks of extraordinary and possibly illegal behavior.

He said three of the banks had obtained their licenses through “false pretences”. Shareholders and “related and connected parties” had removed extremely large sums of money from two other banks, Addison added.

The central bank