BoG revokes licences of 2 forex bureaux for breaching foreign exchange laws

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has revoked the licenses of two forex bureau for breaching foreign exchange laws.

They are Trade House Forex Bureau Limited and Airport City Forex Bureau Limited.

The two forex bureau are under the same ownership and were detected by a mystery shopping exercise by the central bank.

The revocation of the licenses is in accordance with the provisions of Sections 11 (1) and 12 (f) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006 (723).

The two entities are said to have not complied with rules governing the operations of foreign exchange bureau including directive on customer identification and issuance of electronic receipt (Bank of Ghana Notice Number: BG/GOV/SEC/2018/16).

The Head of Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department at the Bank of Ghana, Yaw Sarpong explained that they were not issuing electronic receipts and were not requesting valid proof of identity.

Mr. Sarpong said the “two bureau on several occasions have been found not to be complying.”

“The way they set their prices are detrimental and we think that the licenses of the two bureaus have to be revoked,” he added.

The BoG reserves the right to revoke the license of any forex bureau if: in the Bank’s opinion, the conduct of any forex bureau is detrimental to the success of the Forex Bureau Scheme.

According to the Bank of Ghana, the exercise targeted at ensuring sanity in the forex market is expected to continue in Accra and other areas in the Greater Accra region.

The two forex bureau are under the same ownership and were detected by a mystery shopping exercise by the central bank.