The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has issued a revised Supervisory Guidance Note mandating the Ghana Card as the sole form of identification for all financial transactions in the country, with immediate effect.
The new directive replaces all previous guidelines and introduces a strict customer verification regime across the financial sector.
Under the rules, any individual who has not registered for a Ghana Card or, where applicable, a Non-Citizen Ghana Card or Refugee Identity Card will be barred from conducting financial transactions.
For millions of Ghanaians and residents, the absence of a national identity card now constitutes a complete restriction on access to banking and financial services, rather than a procedural inconvenience.
The BoG has directed all accountable institutions to integrate the National Identification Authority (NIA) system into their onboarding processes for new customers, including Ghanaian citizens, permanent residents and ECOWAS nationals.
Digital onboarding has also been tightened, with mandatory liveness checks introduced to curb fraud, effectively removing previous flexibilities for non-face-to-face account openings.
Enforcement measures are particularly stringent with respect to account access.
While third parties may continue to deposit funds into accounts that have not been updated with a Ghana Card, affected account holders will be unable to make withdrawals or initiate transactions until their identification details are regularised.
Banks have also been authorised to automatically update secondary customer information such as telephone numbers and residential addresses using NIA records.
However, any discrepancies involving primary data, including names or dates of birth, must be resolved directly at NIA offices through physical verification.
The guidance provides limited exemptions for foreign nationals and Ghanaians living abroad. Non-residents staying in Ghana for less than 90 days may use their passports for specific one-off transactions, such as ATM withdrawals or remittance services, subject to the submission of valid visa details.
Similarly, Ghanaians residing abroad who are yet to obtain a Ghana Card may temporarily rely on their passports to access financial services.
In instances where biometric verification fails due to technical issues or “no match” outcomes, the BoG has introduced a 90-day deferral window for new customers to correct their records.
During this period, affected accounts will remain flagged and non-operational until the discrepancies are resolved.
