The Bank of Ghana has directed that all licensed financial institutions under its ambit should accept only the Ghana Card as the only identification card that will be used for all financial transactions.
According to the BoG, this directive is in furtherance of its objective of ensuring the safety of the financial system, Bank of Ghana pursuant to Regulation 7 of the National Identity Register, 2012 (L.I. 2111).
The regulated financial institutions to be affected include; Banks, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions and Non-Deposit-Taking Financial Institutions.
Others include; Payment Service Providers and Dedicated Electronic Money Issuers as well as Forex Bureaus and Credit Reference Bureaus.
In a Wednesday, January 19, statement, the Bank of Ghana stated that, “in line with this notice, Section 30 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044) and Regulation 12 of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, 2011 (L.I. 1987), all financial institutions shall take steps to update customer records with the Ghana Card”.
Customers of the Bank of Ghana regulated financial institutions are therefore advised to update their records with their respective financial institutions with the Ghana Card in line with this notice, the statement further directed.
The apex bank also announced that the National Identification Authority verification transaction platform shall be integrated into the BoG’s financial monitoring platform to better know their customers (KYC purposes).
The move is aimed at ensuring that all financial transactions performed within the ecosystem are linked to one identity and information, and unique codes for the transactions shared with the BoG to facilitate the identification of initiators or beneficiaries for tracking purposes.
