The Bank of Ghana has issued a directive indicating that it will not accept any other form of identification for financial transactions apart from the Ghana card, starting from July 1, 2022.

In a statement issued by the Bank of Ghana and signed by Ms Sandra Thompson, the Bank of Ghana asserted that the Ghana Card will be used for all financial transactions at all Bank of Ghana licensed and regulated financial institutions.

“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 to undertake transactions at all Bank of Ghana licensed and regulated financial institutions”.
BoG Statement

According to the BoG statement, the financial institutions that are to strictly adhere to the directive include: banks, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDTI), Non-Deposit-Taking Financial Institutions, Payment Service Providers and Dedicated Electronic Money Issuers, Forex Bureau and Credit Reference Bureaus.

The BoG reiterated that no other form of identification will be accepted for financial transactions in all Bank of Ghana regulated financial institutions after the effective date stated above.

Update Customer Records

Therefore, it tasked all financial institutions to take steps to update customer records with the Ghana Card in line with the 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).

“Customers of Bank of Ghana regulated financial institutions are, therefore, advised to update their records with their respective financial institutions with the Ghana Card in line with this Notice”.
BoG Statement

For KYC (Know Your Customer) purposes, the BoG said, the National Identification Authority verification transaction platform would be integrated into the Bank of Ghana’s financial monitoring platform.

According to the Bank of Ghana, the purpose of linking the Ghana card to all transaction platforms is to ensure that all financial transactions performed within the ecosystem are linked to one identity and information and unique codes for transactions 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).”
BoG Statement

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has completed building its verification platform to enable all financial institutions to accept the Ghana Card for transactions.

Banks Currently Do not Accept Ghana Card

The Head of Corporate Affairs at the National Identification Authority, Mr Abudu Abdul-Ganiyu, explained that the banks are not accepting the Ghana Card because they had no means of verifying the information on the cards, compared to the others like the voters ID or the driving licence as the database on the Ghana Card had not been established.

With the new directive, the NIA would have to urgently open offices in the various districts across the country to make it a lot easier for Ghanaians who have not registered for the Ghana card to do so.