The Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) sector of Ghana’s financial sector needs to be cleaned up, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Asiama, has said.
Dr Asiama says that the BoG is currently in talks with the Ministry of Finance to ensure the sector is cleaned up.
Answering questions during the 123rd Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conference in Accra on Friday March 28, Dr Asiama said “You asked about the SDIs sector, yes, there has to be a cleanup of that sector, and we are engaging the Ministry of Finance, we are having some talks with the Ministry, and we will work on that.”
In November last year, the Bank of Ghana issued a comprehensive outsourcing directive aimed at enhancing the governance and risk management frameworks for banks, Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs), financial holding companies, and development finance institutions.
The regulated financial institutions had till July 1, 2025, to comply with the directive or face an administrative penalty of one thousand penalty units, equivalent to GHȼ12,000.
The move by the Bank of Ghana emphasizes its commitment to ensuring that Ghana’s financial sector remains robust and adheres to stringent governance standards following the increasing tendency of banks and specialized deposit-taking institutions (SDIs), to outsource activities to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
The directive details specific functions that regulated financial institutions (RFIs) may outsource with prior approval and lists essential functions that are prohibited from being outsourced to maintain the integrity and independence of key decision-making roles.
For instance, a regulated financial institution shall not outsource to a Service Provider (strategic functions) including but not limited to Board and Senior Management functions such as strategic oversight, corporate planning, organization, management and control and decision-making functions, decisions on whether or not to grant credit, determining compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Financing of Terrorism and Know Your Customer (KYC) norms for opening accounts.
Others include the internal audit function, risk management function, and cyber and information security management function.
