The Bank of Ghana licensed and regulated financial institutions will, effective from July 1, 2022, accept only the Ghana Card (ECOWAS ID) as the identification card to be used to undertake transactions.
The move follows the Central Bank of Ghana’s (BOG) directive that all Bank of Ghana licensed and regulated financial institutions, including banks, specialised deposit-taking institutions, non-deposit-taking financial institutions, payment service providers, and dedicated electronic money issuers, as well as forex bureaus and credit reference bureaus, should not accept any other form of identification for financial transactions.
In a news statement signed by Ms. Sandra Thompson, Secretary, Central Bank of Ghana, the directive, pursuant to Regulation 7 of the National Identity Register, 2012 (L.I. 2111), is in furtherance of its objective of ensuring the safety of the financial system.
In line with this notice, the Bank of Ghana revealed that all financial institutions should take steps to update customer records with the Ghana Card. Customers of Bank of Ghana-regulated financial institutions are therefore advised to use the Ghana Card to update their records with their respective financial institutions.
For KYC purposes, BOG also revealed that: “the National Identification Authority verification transaction platform will be integrated into the Bank of Ghana’s financial monitoring platform.”
This is to ensure that all financial transactions performed within the ecosystem are linked to one identity and information, and unique codes for the transactions shared with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to facilitate the identification of initiators/beneficiaries for track and trace purposes.
This will include but not limited to transactions by: Banks, Non-bank Financial Institutions, and Mobile Money Operators (MMOs).
