Ghana’s Central Bank has taken regulatory action against eight money transfer organisations (MTOs) by barring them from offering remittance services without the required regulatory approval.
The barred companies include LemFi, Wise, Transfer Go, PayPal’s Xoom, SendValu, Boss Revolution, Aza Finance, and Supersonicz, according to a notice from the bank.
The Central Bank’s notice serves as a warning to the public, commercial banks, dedicated electronic money issuers (DEMI), and enhanced payments service providers (EPSP) to avoid transacting with the aforementioned companies.
The bank’s decision is backed by Section 3.1 of Ghana’s Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723), which prohibits dealing in foreign exchange without obtaining the necessary license.
Section 29.1 of the Act says, operating without a license carries penalties that include a fine “of not more than seven hundred penalty units or a term of imprisonment of not more than eighteen months or both.”
The Central Bank’s notice asked MTOs to obey its guidelines. It stated, “approved MTOs are hereby reminded to terminate their foreign exchange flows through their partner institutions only and to adhere strictly to all guidelines in respect of their operations,”
Remittances play a crucial role as a source of foreign exchange for many African countries. The World Bank has discovered that remittance inflows to Sub-Saharan Africa saw an estimated 5.2% growth, amounting to $53 billion in 2022. This figure represents a notable increase from the 16.4% growth observed in the previous year.
