The Managing Director of CAL Bank Limited, Frank Adu Jnr, has urged stakeholders in the financial sector to support the Bank of Ghana as it cleans the sector.
The Bank of Ghana, last week sent out a notice, strongly indicating that it will punish persons, companies or institutions dealing in the foreign exchange business without authorization from the bank.
Speaking to Citi Business News about the Central Banks’ efforts to sanitize Ghana’s Foreign Exchange market, Mr. Adu Jnr said it was important for all stakeholders including the general public to support the Bank of Ghana’s efforts at strengthening the local currency.
“Let’s support the Governor to achieve what he has set out in front of him as well as what the law says. But the thing is that for any law to be effective you must have the right structures in place. If you don’t have the right structures in place then the laws are just laws.”
The legal tenders in Ghana are the Cedi and Pesewa
The BoG in its recent notice warned that the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723) prohibits the pricing, advertising and receipt or payment for goods and services in foreign currency in Ghana.
The Central Bank thus reminded the general public and the business community that the sole legal tender in Ghana is the Ghana Cedi and Ghana pesewa.
38 forex bureaux face closure by Bank of Ghana
The Bank of Ghana at the beginning of May, 2019 threatened to close down forex bureaus that were not complying with its operational regulations. In a letter sent to the Forex Bureaux Association and sighted by Citi Business News, the BoG named 38 forex bureaus that were not complying with the central bank’s regulations.
The affected 38 forex bureaux are in the Greater Accra Region, Ashanti and the Northern regions. Twenty-eight are in located in various places in Accra including, Adabraka, New town, Zongo Junction and Kaneshie. Nine are in Kumasi specifically Adum and Suame and one in Tamale.
They have been cited for non-compliance of various regulations including non-renewal of licenses, failure to submit audited accounts, failure to submit monthly financial reports and failure to operate within a period of 2 years. Some were also cited for failure to check the IDs of individuals who did business with them.
Per the Bank of Ghana Forex Bureau Regulations issued in accordance with the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723), forex bureaux operators must capture all purchases and sales electronically and issue receipts accordingly.
Also, all customers must provide valid national identification or other valid personal ID such as Voter’s ID, Passport or Driver’s License when engaging in forex transactions with Forex Bureau. All licensed Forex Bureaux must submit the required monthly returns electronically to the Bank of Ghana within five (5) working days after the end of the month.
All licensed Forex Bureaux operators must renew their licenses every two years. And this must be done by submitting:
- Copy of Tax Clearance Certificate
- Copy of Insurance Certificate
- Extract of Audited Accounts
- Bank Statements
- Proof of filing of Annual Returns at the Registrar General’s Department
- The Bank of Ghana had warned that failure to do all these will result in the revocation of license of defaulters.
The affected operators have up to May 15 to comply with the requirements or risk losing their licenses.
