BoG Closes 2 forex bureaus over foreign exchange laws breaches

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has revoked the operational licenses of two forex Bureaus in Accra effective October 27, 2022.

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

This is in accordance with the provisions of Sections 11 (1) and 12 (f) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006 (723),

Read the full statement below

Press Information

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

In accordance with the provisions of Sections 11 (1) and 12 (f) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006 (723), the Bank of Ghana has revoked the licence of Trade House and Airport City Forex Bureaux Limited effective October 27, 2022 based on the following:

  1. Non-compliance with rules governing the operations of foreign exchange bureaux including directive on customer identification and issuance of electronic receipt (Bank of Ghana Notice Number: BG/GOV/SEC/2018/16).
  2. 19 (i)The Bank of Ghana reserves the right to revoke the licence 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 Head of Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department at the Bank of Ghana, Yaw Sapong, the exercise targeted at ensuring sanity in the forex market is expected to continue across the capital city, Accra in the Greater Accra region.

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

The Head of Other Financial Institutions Supervision department of the Central Bank  noted that they were not issuing electronic receipts and not requesting valid proof of identity.

Mr. Sarpong said the “two bureaus 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.  

BoG