We will continue to effectively regulate and promote safety, soundness of financial institutions – BoG

The Bank of Ghana has reiterated that it will continue to effectively regulate and supervise the Regulated Financial Institutions (RFIs) towards promoting the safety and soundness of the institutions.

It will also ensure the stability of the banking industry with the ultimate objective of protecting depositors’ funds.

Highlighting its role in Ghana’s Financial Sector, the Bank of Ghana said following the announcement of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) by the government, it issued regulatory reliefs to the RFIs that fully participated in the DDEP. These reliefs are meant to alleviate the potential impact of the DDEP on RFIs.

With the objective of promoting the safety and soundness of institutions and ensuring the stability of the banking industry, the Central Bank strives to continuously strengthen the regulation, supervision and practices of regulated institutions. This is done by continuously building the capacity of supervisors as well as the banking industry through the use of internal staff or external consultants.

It also continues to receive capacity development support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), AFRITAC West 2, Bank of England, Toronto Centre, and World Bank. The IMF, through funding support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), continue to provide long-term technical assistance aimed at building capacity of the supervisors.

The Bank of Ghana also recently engaged a long-term technical expert for banking supervision in the areas of Basel II/ III Capital Framework, Risk Based Supervision and Climate-Related Financial Risk.

Emerging Issues

To deal with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy, the Bank of Ghana issued fiscal policies, supportive monetary policies and supervisory/ regulatory interventions in March 2020.

The interventions ranged from capital to liquidity reliefs.

It also issued regulatory guidance on the application of IFRS expected credit loss (ECL) impairment model in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These intervention measures were in line with international best practices all over the globe.

Engagement with External Stakeholders

Due to the ever-changing banking environment, the Bank of Ghana deemed critical regular engagements with stakeholders such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), and the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) in ensuring that bank supervisors are abreast with matters affecting the banking industry.

Regular workshops, forums, and meetings are held with stakeholders to discuss emerging issues related to the banking industry.