The Bank of Ghana, has suspended Consolidated Bank Ghana’s (CBG) Foreign Exchange Trading Licence, effective November 26, 2024, for one month.
This is the second time this year that, the Bank, has made this decision based on section 11(2) of the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723).
It is not clear, what accounts for this rampant development, as the Central Bank’s commentary on the matter, is often vague, lacking details as well as specifics.
In the recent matter, a statement on November 12, the Central Bank, clarified that multiple violations of foreign exchange market regulations prompted the suspension of the state-owned CBG formed by BoG from the commercial banks following the GH34 billion banking sector clean-up.
The other breaches include, “Updated Guidelines for Inward Remittance Services for Payment Service Providers dated November 2023 and the Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism & The Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (AML/CFT&P) Guideline, for Accountable Institutions in Ghana dated December 2022, which have come to the attention of the Bank of Ghana.”
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) announced that the licence will be restored at the end of the one-month suspension period, provided that CBG implements effective controls to ensure strict adherence to foreign exchange market regulations.
Additionally, the BoG cautioned all foreign exchange market participants to comply strictly with the applicable forex market regulations and guidelines.
In March this year, the Bank of Ghana suspended the Foreign Exchange Trading Licences of Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana Limited (GTB) and FBNBank Ghana Limited (FBN), effective 18th March 2024, for a period of one (1) month, in accordance with section 11 (2) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006, (Act 723).
This was as a result of various breaches of the foreign exchange market regulations, including fraudulent documentation in their foreign exchange operations which have come to the attention of the Bank of Ghana.
The licence was to be “restored at the end of the one-month suspension period once the Bank of Ghana is satisfied that they have put in place effective controls to ensure strict adherence to the foreign exchange market regulations”.
A statement issued at the time cautioned that “foreign exchange market players to adhere strictly to the applicable forex market regulations and guidelines”.
However, the Central Bank as is often the case did not issue another public statement to reveal whether had addressed the infractions of the law.
