The Ghana Association of Banks has assured that despite the end of the period given for customers of financial institutions to update their data with the Ghana Card, they will be able to still carry out banking transactions even without the card.
The directive regarding the update of the data of customers of financial institutions was issued by the Bank of Ghana on January 19, 2022.
According to the directive, all licensed and regulated financial institutions under the Central Bank, are to accept only the Ghana Card for transactions from July 1, 2022.
Per the notice from the Central Bank, the move is in furtherance of the Central Bank’s objective of ensuring the safety of the financial ecosystem.
Institutions that are required to accept only the Ghana card for financial transactions include Banks, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions; Non-Deposit-Taking Financial Institutions; Payment Service Providers and Dedicated Electronic Money Issuers, Forex Bureaus and Credit Reference Bureaus.
While multiple stakeholders in Ghana’s banking industry welcomed the move by the Bank of Ghana, saying it will check fraud and sanitise the country’s financial system, others were somewhat sceptical and concerned about the fate of their hard-earned funds especially as some were struggling to procure the Ghana card.
John Awuah is the CEO of the Ghana Association of Banks, and he assures that with or without the Ghana Card, Ghanaians will still be able to undertake banking transactions.
“If you have your Ghana Card but for one reason or the other you haven’t been able to update your record, you don’t have to worry. Whenever you decide to execute a transaction and you produce your Ghana Card, at that stage, your bank can update your record, and you should be able to transact. Even in situations where you don’t have the Ghana Card, maybe for some reason, it is impossible for you to get it now, you will continue undertaking your transaction as you’ve always done. The only thing is that perhaps the bank may ask you some more questions, and some level of enhanced due diligence will be undertaken. Whether you have a Ghana Card or not, the account and money in it remain yours, hence the bank will not stop you from having access.”
He meanwhile urged Ghanaians to take steps to get their Ghana Cards if they haven’t and update their records to ensure their funds receive an extra layer of protection.
“It’s in our interest because of the extra security features that the Ghana card has, which will go a long way to ensure the safety and sanctity of banking transactions.”