The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has announced a package of new regulatory measures designed to strengthen the country’s banking sector, enhance risk management, and align operations with global standards.
Governor Dr. Johnson P. Asiama, speaking at a post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting with bank chief executives in Accra, said the reforms would target credit governance, liquidity risk, foreign exchange compliance, and long-term business model sustainability.
Under the new Credit Risk Management Directive, aligned with Basel principles, all banks will be required to enforce stricter underwriting, monitoring, and provisioning standards. Lenders must also identify and take firm action against deliberate defaulters to safeguard asset quality.
In the insurance space, a new Bancassurance Directive (an arrangement between a bank and an insurance company) will impose stronger governance requirements on partnerships between banks and insurers. A Large Exposures Directive and fresh rules on credit concentration will also be introduced to reduce risk from overreliance on single borrowers or sectors.
To protect liquidity buffers, the central bank will implement a Liquidity Risk Management Directive mandating that banks hold sufficient high-quality liquid assets to withstand a 30-day stress scenario. It will also close loopholes in reserve requirements, including the misclassification of deposits as borrowings, and clarify the treatment of electronic money float accounts.
On the compliance front, the Bank of Ghana will tighten enforcement of the Foreign Exchange Act and guidelines for inward remittance services. Banks and payment service providers will be barred from using unapproved channels for remittance terminations, engaging in foreign exchange swaps within remittance operations, or applying unprescribed FX rates. Weekly reports on inward remittances and FX credits to Nostro accounts will be mandatory, with non-compliance attracting sanctions under the Payment Systems and Services Act and the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act.
The governor also announced a strategic business model thematic review to assess the long-term sustainability of banks’ strategies in light of changing customer needs, technological disruption, and climate-related risks. Boards and senior management will be required to fully engage in the review process.
Dr. Asiama said the reforms were part of a “single, coherent regulatory framework” aimed at positioning Ghana’s banking sector to compete globally while playing a stronger role in supporting sustainable economic growth.
