Dr. Ernest Addison
THE BANK of Ghana (BoG) has directed banks to allow non-resident Ghanaians who cannot access the Ghana Card to use their passports to access banking transactions.
The directive is until they are included in the eligible group to benefit from the facility.
This comes after the Central Bank’s enforcement of the July 1, 2022, deadline for resident Ghanaians to link their Ghana Card to bank accounts before they can be allowed to undertake banking transactions.
However, linking a Ghana Card to the bank account does not have an expiry date.
The central bank also pointed out that deposits (cash, cheque, transfers) into accounts of customers who have not updated their records with the Ghana Card should be allowed by financial institutions.
The BoG clarified that no debit withdrawal should be placed on such accounts.
In line with the National Identity Registration Regulation L.I. 2111(2), which exempts the diplomatic corps from usage of the Ghana Card, members of the diplomatic corps should be allowed to use their passports as a means of identification for banking transactions, the BoG said.
The National Identity Register Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2111) mandates the use of the National Identity Card commonly known as the Ghana Card for all banking transactions where identification is required.
According to the verification procedures, Accountable Institutions (AIs) shall use only the Ghana Card to identify and verify all customers including Ghanaian Citizens living in Ghana and abroad, permanent residents, ECOWAS nationals who are residents, foreign directors/shareholders and non-residents for on-boarding (account opening).
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri