The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has served notice to all licensed financial institutions and the general public that effective July 1, 2022, the Ghana Card shall be the only identification card accepted for any form of banking or financial transactions in the country.
According to a statement signed by the Central Bank and sighted by Citi Business News, the move 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), hereby directs that with effect from 1st July 2022, the Ghana Card shall be the only identification card that will be used to undertake transactions at all Bank of Ghana licensed and regulated financial institutions,” BoG noted in the statement.
The institutions include; Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions; Non-Deposit-Taking Financial Institutions; Payment Service Providers and Dedicated Electronic Money Issuers; Forex Bureaus and Credit Reference Bureaus.
“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.”
The BoG also urged the financial institutions and their customers to update their records with the Ghana Card in line with the notice.
“For KYC purposes, the National Identification Authority verification transaction platform will be integrated into the Bank of Ghana’s financial monitoring platform. This is to ensure that all financial transactions performed within the ecosystem are linked to one identity and information, and unique codes for the transactions are shared with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to facilitate the identification of initiators/beneficiaries for track and trace purposes.
This will include, but not limited to transactions by Banks; Non-bank Financial Institutions; and Mobile Money Operators (MMOs),” the notice stated.
The central bank also warned that no other form of identification will be accepted for financial transactions in the Bank of Ghana after the effective date stated (July 1, 2022).
