‘No Ghana card, no bank transaction’ policy to speed up loan approvals – John Awuah

BoG directs financial institutions to accept only Ghana Card from July 1

Access to loans to improve with policy, Bankers Association

Ghana Card, SSNIT number merger takes effect

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Bankers, John Awuah, has expressed confidence that loans accessibility will improve with the implementation of the ‘Ghana Card Only' directive issued by the central bank.

The Bank of Ghana has since directed that beginning July 1, 2022, all regulated and licensed financial institutions in Ghana are required to only accept the Ghana Card for transactions.

Reacting to the development in an interaction with Citi Business News, John Awuah described the move as one that seeks to improve the quantity and quantum of loans given out by financial institutions.

“Now access to loans should also improve given that now we have better ways of knowing the persons we are dealing with. We believe that if the card is properly embedded into our sanctions structure, it should help speed up loan approvals and ultimately help reduce the lending rates of banks,” the CEO of the Association pointed.

“Particularly for personal loans, this policy should help in tracing and tracking defaulters. In the past, people take loans and then jump from one job to the next job and end up not paying for loans taken. The new Ghana card system has your SSNIT number integrated, the card is linked to your tax ID, your passport and also pins you to a location,” he explained.

John Awuah further said the Ghana Card policy is also expected to reduce the level of non-performing loans which is critical to the growth of the financial ecosystem.

For a greater portion of 2021, figures released by the central bank indicated that growth in gross loans and advances remained subdued which impacted demand and supply for credit for the period.