Ghana Card shouldn’t be the only identity for financial transactions – Sam George
Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George, has criticized the directive of the government and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) that only the Ghana Card will be used as an identification document for all financial transactions beginning 1 July 2022.
According to him, the Ghana Card should not be the only identity card for financial transactions, rather, he said, it can be used among other cards.
“We are living in a country that appears to be a banana republic. Anybody wakes up and throws out a directive. When you were taking your money to the bank to deposit, did they ask for a Ghana Card? Has your bank not done a Know Your Customer (KYC) process, where they have asked you to use your national ID, Ghanaian passport or voters ID,” he questioned in an interview on TV3 which was monitored by The Ghana Report.
The directive from the apex bank includes commercial banks, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions, Non-Deposit-Taking Financial Institutions, Payment Service Providers and Dedicated Electronic Money Issuers, Forex Bureau and Credit Reference Bureaus.
The BoG said no other form of identification would be accepted for financial transactions in all Bank of Ghana regulated financial institutions after the effective date stated.
“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 (LI 2111), hereby directs that with effect from 1 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,” a statement issued by the BOG said.
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 (LI 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,” it said.
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.
That, it noted was to ensure that all financial transactions performed within the ecosystem were 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 be limited to transactions by Banks, Non-bank Financial Institutions; and Mobile Money Operators (MMOs),” it said.