BoG issues 176 payment products and services between 2016 and 2021

This week, the Bank of Ghana has issued a total number of 176 products and services in the payment system ecosystem between 2016 and 2021.

Fifty-five (55) Remittance Services, forty (40) mobile banking services, and twenty (20) card issuance services make up the growing number of payment products and services, with seventeen (17) agency banking and eleven (11) mobile money services part of the list.

The year 2017 recorded the highest number of issued products and services of 38, followed by 2019 (37) and 2020 (32), whereas, in 2021, the Bank approved 26 products and services for financial institutions.

These approved products and services were mainly in-bound remittances, mobile banking services, card issuance, and digital microloans. Others include banking agencies, POS and ATM acquiring services, remote account opening, WhatsApp/chat banking and Quick Response (QR) code.

BoG survey reveals 26 payment service providers had no Board Charter

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on 26 Payment Service Providers (PSPs) that have applied for a provisional license has revealed that most of them had no Board Charter in place to guide their activities and the functions of the directors.

Also, there was no evidence of board meetings and oversight of some of these entities.

In some instances, the board as constituted and shared with the Central Bank had not been functional to undertake their fiduciary duties to the institutions at the time of the visit.

Some inconsistencies were also noted in key management personnel at the post, with their names submitted to the Central Bank as part of the licensing application.

Again, some institutions shared critical roles with their group companies. Most of these roles were held by employees who lived in other countries other than Ghana.

The banking industry regulator pointed out that the entities’ staff had little or no training on areas such as AML/CFT, provisions of the Payment Systems and Services Act 987, the Bank’s Consumer Recourse Mechanism Guidelines 2017, and cyber security and information security management. The internal control structures of some companies were also inadequate.

The Central Bank undertook the readiness assessment examination on several institutions as part of the licensing application review process.

Source: myjoyonline.com

source https://www.jbklutse.com/bog-issues-176-payment-products-and-services-between-2016-and-2021/