The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has intensified calls for coordinated action among regulators, law enforcement agencies, and industry players to counter the growing threat posed by unlicensed financial operators to Ghana’s financial system.
Addressing a workshop organised by the Committee for Cooperation Between Law Enforcement Agencies and the Banking Community (COCLAB) in Accra, the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mrs. Matilda Asante-Asiedu, warned that the country’s improving macroeconomic environment was also creating opportunities for illicit financial actors to exploit regulatory gaps.
She noted that Ghana’s economy was showing strong signs of recovery, with growth projected at about 5.5 percent, inflation easing to 6.3 percent, and financial stability remaining broadly steady. However, she cautioned that such periods of recovery often attract bad actors seeking to undermine public trust and exploit unsuspecting consumers.
Mrs. Asante-Asiedu pointed to the rapid expansion of Ghana’s financial sector, driven largely by digitalisation and innovation. Total financial sector assets, she said, had grown significantly from GHS102.1 billion in 2015 to approximately GHS461.51 billion by October 2025. Over the same period, banking sector credit increased by nearly 16 percent, while consumer confidence reached a record high in mid-2025.
She explained that the surge in digital financial services had transformed access to payments and credit, citing a sharp rise in online banking transactions from GHS10.9 billion in February 2024 to GHS28.8 billion in February 2025. Despite these gains, she said the fast pace of innovation had also exposed weaknesses in regulation, which unlicensed operators were exploiting.
According to the Deputy Governor, the Bank of Ghana received more than 50 complaints in 2024 alone linked to unregulated savings, investment, and lending schemes. She said many of these entities disguised themselves as legitimate financial institutions while imposing excessive charges and employing abusive recovery methods.
To address the challenge, Mrs. Asante-Asiedu urged COCLAB to strengthen its collaborative framework by forming structured multi-agency working groups to study the tactics of illicit operators and propose joint enforcement actions. She also suggested elevating some COCLAB discussions to the level of heads of institutions to enhance accountability and decision-making.
She stressed that the issue had become even more urgent as Ghana prepares for its third-round Mutual Evaluation by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in the first quarter of 2026.
Calling for decisive action, she appealed to regulators, law enforcement agencies, banks, telecommunications companies, and the media to move beyond dialogue and focus on execution, saying sustained collaboration was critical to maintaining confidence in the financial system.
Justice Afia Serwaa Botwe of the Court of Appeal echoed similar concerns, describing unlicensed financial operations as a persistent and complex threat that required coordinated enforcement. Drawing on her experience with fraud-related cases, she said collaboration among stakeholders was essential to dismantle fraudulent networks that prey on the public with unrealistic promises of high returns.
She commended COCLAB for promoting inter-agency cooperation and noted that addressing financial crime required breaking institutional silos and adopting a networked approach.
In his welcome address, the Head of the Financial Stability Department at the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Kwasi Osei-Yeboah, described cloned and unlicensed financial institutions as a major risk to the integrity of the financial sector. He urged participants to develop practical and forward-looking solutions, noting that while technology had expanded financial inclusion, it had also been leveraged by criminals.
The workshop, held under the theme “Promoting Financial Integrity through Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration,” highlighted the growing consensus that safeguarding Ghana’s financial system requires sustained cooperation across both public and private sectors.
