Reverend Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, the Director-General of SEC, told a press conference on Tuesday that the Commission was working with the fund management firms to address the complaints of clients lodged with it in line with the law and to strengthen compliance.

He said the Commission would be tracking compliance and taking further action against firms that fail to conform while directors and senior management culpable face the appropriate sanctions.

The press conference was called to inform the investing public on the state of the Asset Management Industry in the country and to provide clarity on the actions the Commission is taking to bring stability to the market place and inform the public on these developments.

It was also to dispel rumours and mischief intended to destroy the market and the confidence of investors.

Rev. Tetteh said among the initiatives being taken by the Commission to ensure certainty in the market is a risk-based supervision, which puts the spotlight on licensees with growing list of complaints.

Already, directives have been issued to some fund management houses to stop taking new deposits, he said.

Other initiatives to clean up the sector are the suspension and revocation of some licenses, disqualification of certain licensed individuals who exhibit actions and behaviours inconsistent with the fit and proper test from operating in the securities industry.

Rev. Tetteh said the Commission was also empowering aggrieved investors to pursue their investments using the Court system.

He said to ensure a healthy and vibrant asset management industry, supervision and enforcement is also being strengthened to ensure that the licensees deliver on their mandate to the investing public.

The SEC has also introduced corporate governance guidelines, investment guidelines and financial resources guidelines to ensure properly capitalized and well governed asset management firms.

Furthermore, the SEC is working at a quicker access by the investing public to information on licensees with the help of information technology to assist the investing public to make informed decisions rather than being misled by unsubstantiated claims in the social media.

He said the list of fund management firms on SEC's website is by no means a list of companies that are not safe to invest with as has been wildly speculated in social media.

"The classification on the SEC website only indicates the status of licensees that have various regulatory issues and those that have unresolved complaints," he said.

He urged all Fund Managers to exercise due caution and Fiduciary responsibility in making investment decisions and also have strong risk management processes in place as well as a robust investment management process.

"This means that they should not take excessive risks for risk averse investors, and for investors who seek high risk, they need to explain to them the potential volatility in the portfolio that is created for them. The trade-off between risk and return must he clearly explained to the investor," he added.

With regard to the regulatory environment, Mr Tetteh said the Commission was introducing the improved Licensing requirements, investment guidelines for Fund Managers and an enhanced Minimum Capital/Liquidity requirements.

As at December 2018, there were 140 fund managers, 35 mutual funds, 19 unit trusts, 22 broker dealers two securities exchanges, 16 custodians, 15 primary dealers, five trustees, four registrars, five issuing houses, nine investment advisors and one venture capital fund.

Of the total funds under management of 35 billion cedis, pension funds accounted for 30.5 percent, Collective investment schemes were 8.5 per cent and managed accounts were 61 percent.