Bank of Ghana, still looking into my soup?
Just before Christmas, the Bank of Ghana announced the opening of a Contact Centre to enable the public know more about its work.
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It has promised that the Centre will provide “prompt responses” to enquiries. I just hope they mean it. It’s a great idea for the Central Bank to champion transparency, especially as Governor Dr Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku has asked the media for feedback on the Bank’s activities.
But if I sound sceptical, it’s because a simple question I asked the Bank in this column more than a year ago remains unanswered.
My question was: why does the BOG insist that recipients of comparatively paltry foreign remittances or transfers should disclose what the money is for?
The following is an abridged version of that 2015 article, which had the headline, ‘Bank of Ghana, I protest, don’t look into my soup!’
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The article:
Earlier this week, I discovered to my consternation that the Bank of Ghana now wants to virtually look into my cooking pot to know what soup I’m cooking! Per the Central Bank’s directive, a form I completed at my bank in order to cash a remittance from abroad asked me to state “PURPOSE”!
I kid you not! If in these hard times a relative of yours abroad takes pity on you and sends you a little something, the Bank of Ghana is asking you to tell it the purpose for which the money is being sent to you!!!
The mini sheet of paper I completed at my local branch of the GCB Bank was headed FOREIGN MONEY TRANSFER FORM.
The details one was to supply included: amount, country, sender’s name, recipient’s name, contact details and, unbelievably, “PURPOSE”!
I completed all the sections except for the last, thinking the bank had no business to ask me that. Anyway, I reasoned, a form asking for the “purpose” of a remittance could only apply to business tycoons dealing in huge sums of money suspected to be used for illegal transactions.
However, to my surprise an assistant brought the form back to me, with the explanation that the cashier said I should fill in the ‘purpose’. Incredulous, I went to see a senior official at the branch.
The official told me simply: “It’s a Bank of Ghana requirement.” “So do they want to know if it’s my ‘chopmoney’? Why?” I asked. He smiled ruefully.
Reluctantly, I wrote: “For housekeeping.” My money was then released to me. “And do you mean that the Bank of Ghana says the remittance should not be paid to anybody who does not state the “purpose”?” I asked. “Yes,” he answered.
My question to the Bank of Ghana is: WHY? Why this snooping?!
Could this be somebody’s bright idea about how to trap money launderers? If so, is it likely that a money-launderer, or anybody being sent money from abroad for any illegal “purpose” would state that intention on the form? Or maybe the Bank of Ghana will be analyzing the responses to get solutions to Ghana’s economic problems?
If so, I wonder what (new findings will be obtained) from responses such as: “for chopmoney”; “for school fees”; “to buy roofing sheets”; or “to pay labourers to weed the family farm”.
And why is it that the Bank of Ghana doesn’t demand that when we go to make deposits, the pay-in slip (asks) “why are you making the deposit?”
In my view the “purpose” question is quite counterproductive, if not downright impertinent! It’s (been) trumpeted over the years that money that Africans, including Ghanaians, send home, totals much more than what the continent receives from its western partners, what is termed ‘Official Development Assistance’.
Furthermore, we have been told that the remittances support the economy critically. Last year, Graphic Online reported that at a forum, a Bank of Ghana official (expressed concern) that foreign remittances had declined and thus BOG would be working on how to get more of the remittances to come through the banks.
Is asking recipients to state what they’re receiving the money for the way to encourage more people abroad to send money to Ghana through the banks?
Apparently the Central Bank doesn’t know the proverb: ‘i only allowed you to come for some coal from my fire to light yours, not to look into my soup pot’!
I submit that this “purpose” question istotally unnecessary and an invasion of the privacy of recipients.
So Bank of Ghana, I protest! It should be scrapped immediately! (From the issue of December 11, 2015.)
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As I indicated above, I’m still waiting for a response to that 2015 article. However, to be fair, at that time the Contact Centre had not been established, so maybe I’ll get lucky this time.
Not surprisingly, the ‘purpose’ question tends to provoke customers’ annoyance. One irate reader said instead of “for housekeeping”, I should have written ‘for poverty alleviation’. Earlier this month, I went to a different branch of the GCB to find out whether other branches also demand the ‘purpose’. It was worse.
I was delighted when the teller there initially asked only for details of the remittance, which I wrote on a piece of paper and gave her. Then came the bombshell as I was about to leave the counter with the money. She asked: what was my relationship with the sender of the money!
Had asked because she had recognized the name? Perhaps an old school mate? Neither of the above. She explained that it was a BOG requirement, part of the antimony laundering campaign; adding “I’m even supposed to ask you the purpose”. That irritating question again!
As stated above, I would have thought that if such intrusive questions are necessary at all, they should apply only in cases of large transactions.
But even then, which inept money launderer’s agent or collaborator would answer the ‘purpose’ question truthfully? What is the point of such customer unfriendly questions as ‘purpose’ and ‘relationship’? So far, have customers’ responses been helping to grow the economy?
Bank of Ghana, I suggest again that there’s need for a review of this policy. And immediately!