Forex Bureaux to Use Centralised Trading Platform

The Bank of Ghana as part of measures to stabilize the cedi on the forex market, has announced a centralized platform for buying and selling foreign currencies which will be used by all licensed forex bureaux in the country.

This was announced in a press statement on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, by the Secretary of the Central Bank, Miss Sandra Thompson.

The platform will go live on August 1, 2024, she noted.

“In line with its objective to ensure the integrity and development of the financial system, the Bank of Ghana has launched a centralised foreign exchange trading platform.”

The Central Bank is confident that this will ensure safe and sound operations of the foreign exchange business as well as improve oversight for Directors and Management of bureaux and enhance the Bank’s monitoring and supervision of their operations in compliance with the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723) and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, (Act 1044).

“The platform has been integrated with the National Identification System to ensure all purchases and sales of foreign currencies are performed by verified individuals. It will also be integrated with the national payment platform to support electronic payments and the receipt of Ghana Cedis for foreign currency transactions at bureaux.”

As part of this, the public has been directed to undertake all buying and selling of foreign currencies at Bank of Ghana licensed foreign currencies dealers-where all transactions are to take place on the central platform- with their Ghana Card or Passport (for Foreign Nationals) and undergo biometric verification.

Meanwhile, the Bureaux are required to issue electronic receipts to customers for all purchases and sales of foreign currencies.