The Bank of Ghana has rolled out new directives aimed at cracking down on the issuance of dud cheques, introducing heavy financial penalties and multi-year banking bans for offenders.
The central bank expressed grave concern over the persistent high volume of bounced cheques across the country, noting that the development has severely undermined public confidence in the payment system and disrupted commercial transactions.
The newly issued Notice No. BG/GOV/SEC/2026/12 supersedes previous regulations from 2021 and 2025, taking immediate effect across all commercial banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs).
Under the revised framework, first-time offenders will face an immediate penalty of 10 per cent of the cheque’s face value and will be placed under formal surveillance for a minimum of one year.
Recidivism will trigger escalating financial punishments, rising to a 15 per cent fine on the second offence and 20 per cent on the third, with all infractions reported directly to Credit Reference Bureaus and the central bank.
The sanctions culminate in severe restrictions for chronic offenders.
Individuals who issue a dud cheque on a third occasion will be banned from issuing cheques anywhere in the country for a minimum of three years. Furthermore, the Bank of Ghana will block these individuals from accessing any new credit facilities from the banking sector for a year.
“The Bank of Ghana shall ban such a customer from issuing cheques within the country for a minimum period of three years,” the central bank directive states, though it clarifies that affected individuals “may, however, be permitted to receive cheques and funds into the affected account and perform other electronic transactions”.
Account holders who are banned must return all unused cheque books to their banks within ten working days. Failure to comply will result in a total ban on operating any current accounts, and the offenders’ details will be published in a newly established “Directory of High-Risk Cheque Issuers”.
Financial institutions are also under strict orders to comply with the enforcement mechanism. Commercial banks and SDIs are required to submit monthly returns on dud cheques by the tenth day of the following month, even if no infractions occurred.
The central bank warned that any institution failing to report, submitting inaccurate information, or neglecting to conspicuously display the new rules in banking halls will face severe sanctions under the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act.
The document, signed by the Secretary of the Bank, Aimee Vyda Quashie, said the move is to up the financial sector and restore the integrity of cheque-based transactions in Ghana.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
