Ghana’s central financial regulator, the Bank of Ghana has set down new guidelines for mobile and electronic money services in Ghana.
The new sets of regulation – The Guidelines for E-Money Issuers in Ghana [PDF] – has make it mandatory for telcos currently providing mobile financial services in concert with banks to set up a separate business entity to handle the electronic money service, according a ghanaweb report.
According to the report, the purpose of this provision of the guideline is to ensure that all institutions offering electronic money services are regulated under the Banking Act, 2004 (Act 673).
Currently, core activities of telcos do not bring them under the Banking Act, however, the new regulations makes it mandatory.
Part of the guideline reads; “No person shall issue e-money other than a financial institution regulated under Act 673 and authorised under these Guidelines or a Dedicated EMI licensed under these Guidelines.”
The bank said that telcos operating in Ghana have a 6-month deadline (January 2016) to get with the regulations which became effective on July 6, 2015.
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