Dr. Ernest Addison – Governor BoG

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has warned commercial banks and other deposit-taking institutions in Ghana not to engage in the payment of facilitation or business fees.

BoG issued the directive on Thursday, August 15, 2019, in a statement signed by its Secretary, Frances Van-Hein Sackey.

According to BoG, any institution which fails to comply with the directive shall be severely sanctioned.

The BoG indicated that during the banking sector clean up, it was observed that banks were paying facilitation fees which has the tendency of increasing the ‘cost of funds’ of the institutions.

It said such costs were invariably passed onto customers.

It stated that the directive was in accordance with Section 16 (1) (f) of the Deposit-Taking Act, 2016, (Act 930) which gives the BoG authority to revoke the license of any institution which in its judgment, is deemed to be engaged in unsafe or unsound banking practices.