The Accra High Court, Commercial Division 6, has ordered First Atlantic Bank (FAB) to pay about GH¢10.54 million to a customer after unlawfully tendering his government bonds into the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) without consent.
The award includes GH¢8.44 million in lost earnings, GH¢2 million in exemplary damages, and GH¢100,000 as litigation costs in favour of the plaintiffs, Vihama Energy Company Limited and Mr. Sebastian Klenam Asem.
In a judgment delivered on December 12, 2025, Justice Sedina Agbamava held that the bank acted negligently and in breach of its fiduciary duty by unilaterally submitting the customer’s bonds into the DDEP, thereby subjecting him to a reduced interest regime.
The court rejected FAB’s argument that it was compelled by the Bank of Ghana or acted to protect its regulatory standing, ruling that no directive authorised banks to tender customer bonds without consent.
Justice Agbamava described the bank’s conduct as a fundamental breach of fiduciary trust, stressing that banks must act strictly within the authority granted by customers, especially in relation to high-value investments.
Evidence before the court showed that the bonds were later restored to their original status, but the customer was denied full coupon payments during the period they were wrongly lodged under the DDEP.
The court said the GH¢2 million exemplary damages were intended to deter financial institutions from engaging in similar conduct, a decision expected to have wide implications for banks involved in Ghana’s domestic debt restructuring.
