Ghana’s apex bank, Bank of Ghana has hammered two key Nigeria’s commercial banks, Guaranty Trust Bank and First Bank forex operations in the West African country.
The hammer fell on the two banks operations in Ghana following discovery of anomalies in their documentations for foreign exchange.
To this end, Bank of Ghana has suspended the foreign exchange trading licenses of two Nigerian-owned banks operating in the neighbouring West African nation.
A statement issued by the Bank of Ghana and obtained by Maritime Bits stated that the suspension will become effective from March 18, 2024, for one month.
“Bank of Ghana has suspended the Foreign Exchange Trading Licences of Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana Limited (GTB) and FBNBank Ghana Limited (FBN), effective 18th March 2024, for a period of one (1) month, in accordance with section 11 (2) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006, (Act 723),” the statement partly read.
“This is a result of various breaches of the foreign exchange market regulations, including fraudulent documentation in their foreign exchange operations which have come to the attention of Bank of Ghana.
“The license will be restored at the end of the one-month suspension period once the Bank of Ghana is satisfied that they have put in place effective controls to ensure strict adherence to the foreign exchange market regulations.”
The Bank of Ghana cautioned foreign exchange market players to adhere strictly to the applicable forex market regulations and guidelines.
This is coming on the heels of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoking the licenses of no fewer than 4,173 Bureaux De Change Operators, accusing the affected institutions of failing to observe regulatory provisions.
The revocation of the licenses is expected to curtail the anomalies in the system including curbing arbitrage, racketeering and profiteering as the Nigeria legal tender suffers an all-time low against the dollar, from about $/700 last May to over $/1500 at the moment.
