The central bank of Ghana, as is its yearly tradition, has published its list of locally and internationally approved FX Brokers for 2023.
This list hinges on Section 3.13.1 of the Ghana Interbank Forex Market Conduct rules which stipulates that; “local and International Foreign Exchange (FX) Brokers who want to operate in Ghana’s forex market are required to obtain prior approval from the Bank of Ghana at the beginning of every calendar year.”
It rests on the central bank to therefore publish a list of approved Local and International FX Brokers on its website annually.
In line with the above, the Bank of Ghana has given authorization for the under listed FX Brokers to operate on the Ghana Interbank FX market effective January 01, 2023 to December 31, 2023.
The authorized list includes; Black Star Brokerage, CSL Capital, Fenics MD, ICAP African Brokers Ltd, Obsidian Acherner, Regulus, Sarpong Capital, Savvy Securities and Terika Financial Services Ltd.
The Bank of Ghana reserves the right to delist any authorized FX broker for nonperformance or non-compliance with the FX Act and the Interbank FX Market Conduct rules.
As part of these conduct rules, an FX broker is to particularly note that “it shall not deal directly with a corporate entity; it shall not also buy or sell foreign exchange for its own account nor hold, borrow or lend foreign exchange to an authorized market participant”.
Post Authorization Conditions For FX Brokers
BoG requires of authorized FX brokers to send to the BoG an interim report mid-day and end of day report when the market closes and should cover pricing and volumes and this should be done on each trading day. This report shall be sent to fxbrokers@bog.gov.gh.
Succeeding the daily report submission, FX brokers are expected to adhere to all applicable requirements under the Ghana Interbank FX Market Conduct rules.
Bank of Ghana (BoG) shall impose penalties and/or revoke authorization should any FX broker be deemed to have deviated from any of the Ghana Interbank FX Market Conduct rules.
An FX broker is also expected to apply for a renewal of authorization as an FX broker in Ghana by the end of the first working week of December of every calendar year.
Additionally, restructuring of the FX broker, e.g. mergers, takeovers and any other significant changes (e.g. change of company name, etc.), must be reported to the BoG without delay.
In the event of restructuring and/or changes to the FX brokers’ regulatory status, proof must be provided that the regulatory authority has either approved or has not objected to such changes.
The FX broker is expected not to take the other side of customer trades, nor outsource the trade to any single third party who can skew the price according to their own trading book. If the counterparty makes its own price, then the FX broker should seek a best price from a reasonable array of wholesale market makers
It is also wrong for an FX broker to deal directly with a corporate entity. In this regard, it shall also not buy or sell foreign exchange for its own account nor hold, borrow or lend foreign exchange to an authorized market participant.
BoG moreover expects an FX broker to have a robust system in place with the required safeguards against cybercrime and other forms of internet or other technology threats in line with the Bank of Ghana’s Cyber Security Directives.
Last but not least, an FX broker is required to quote exchange rates that are based on actual transactions within the domestic economy in Ghana and may be required to provide evidence of that as deemed necessary.
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