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0 The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has said that it does not, and has not licensed any Money Transfer Operators (MTOs).
Additionally, the central bank said Ghana does not operate two foreign exchange systems.
Both banks and FinTechs who engage in inward remittance services do regularly submit prudential returns (financial reports are used to assess an institution’s compliance with regulatory requirements) to the Bank of Ghana as part of their regulatory obligations, the BoG said.
The BoG was reacting to a claim that Ghana operates two separate foreign exchange systems, where the 23 authorised dealer banks account for all foreign exchange received from inward remittances while the “newly licensed” MTOs and Fintech companies do not account for all foreign exchange receipts from inward remittances under the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723)
In response, the BoG said in a statement on Tuesday, June 25 that “Bank of Ghana does not and has not licensed any MTO. Additionally, Ghana does not operate two foreign exchange systems. Both banks and FinTechs who engage in inward remittance services do regularly submit prudential returns to the Bank of Ghana as part of their regulatory obligations. Banks and FinTechs have the responsibility of complying with the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723) and other legal and regulatory requirements.”
The Bank of Ghana further dismissed media reports claiming that $8 billion has been withheld by newly licensed Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) and 11 Fintech companies in the last two years.
Media reports indicated that approximately $12 billion in remittances to Ghana went untracked and unaccounted for by the Bank of Ghana and the Auditor General from 2018 to 2022.
According to these reports, data discrepancies exist between the World Bank and the Bank of Ghana regarding remittance inflows. The World Bank tracked a total of $21.1 billion in remittances to Ghana from 2018 to 2022, while the Auditor General’s reports on the Bank of Ghana’s consolidated statements of foreign exchange receipts and payments accounted for only $9.5 billion, leaving a gap of about $11.6 billion.
The reports added that the Bank of Ghana’s 2023 annual financial statement reveals that 11 licensed FinTech companies provided inward remittance services, with remittances totaling GH¢57 billion (US$5 billion) in 2023, up from GH¢18 billion (US$3 billion) in 2022.
In response, the Central Bank stated that Ghana has seen a consistent increase in remittance inflows year-on-year, as confirmed by data from both the Bank of Ghana and the World Bank.
“The Bank of Ghana does not license MTOs since such companies are based abroad. The Bank, however, conducts due diligence on MTOs who partner local banks and/or FinTechs to deliver remittances into Ghana as part of the authorisation process.
“Furthermore, all remittance inflows are credited to the nostro account of partner banks of Payment Service Providers (PSPs), as such, no PSP holds any forex inflows from inward remittances. The partner bank credits the local cedi accounts of PSPs for onward transfer to beneficiaries.”
“Based on the above, the assertion that the country has lost US$8 Billion in the last two years (i.e, US$ 5 Billion in 2022 and US$3 Billion in 2023) based on FinTechs and MTOs withholding same at the expense of the country’s foreign currency reserves is misleading and not grounded on facts.
Read the BoG’s full statement here
The post Ghana does not operate two foreign exchange system – BoG first appeared on 3News.
