Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Appeals To BoG

On November 17, 2024, 7:18 PM

Wisam Suhyini Hamza, a renowned Anti-Money Laundering Specialist based in British Columbia, Canada, has appealed to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to reconsider its recent decision to suspend Consolidated Bank Ghana’s (CBG) Foreign Exchange Trading Licence.

According to Hamza, while the suspension is a significant step towards regulatory compliance, an administrative monetary penalty might have been a more effective response.

He explained that BoG cited two key regulatory deficiencies leading to the suspension of CBG’s Foreign Exchange Trading Licence.

These deficiencies, he pointed out, relate to CBG’s non-compliance with the BoG’s guidelines on Inward Remittance Services for Payment Service Providers (November 2023) and Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (December 2022).

He acknowledged that BoG has the authority to suspend licences but emphasized that such actions carry broad implications, impacting not only the affected institutions but also their clients and the broader economy.

Consequently, he suggested that licence suspension should ideally be a last resort, with administrative penalties serving as a means to enforce compliance while also generating additional revenue for the government.

Referring to the Foreign Exchange Act 2006 (Act 723), Section 11, which allows the Bank to suspend or revoke a licence if the licensee has violated relevant provisions, Mr. Hamza pointed out, “The bank may suspend or revoke a licence issued under this Act where the licensee has contravened the provisions of this Act or regulations made under it.”

He added, “The bank may suspend a licence for a specific period or set conditions or restrictions on the licence instead of revoking it.”

Mr. Hamza recommended that, for clarity and best practice, this section be amended to explicitly outline a progressive response to non-compliance, with administrative penalties preceding licence suspension, which should only be applied as a final measure.

He urged BoG to consider specifying detailed deficiencies in its notices, allowing other institutions to proactively address similar compliance issues.