The Bank of Ghana in its effort to continuously deepen the foreign exchange market, has issued new set of conditions for FX brokers operating in the market
According to a notice from the central bank, the new eight-point conditions are aimed at ensuring that forex brokers operate within the market in accordance with the Ghana Interbank FX Market Conduct rules.
Key among the new conditions is the requirement for FX brokers to quote exchange rates that are based on actual transactions within the domestic economy in Ghana and brokers will be required to provide evidence of transaction as deemed necessary.
Further to this, FX brokers shall not buy or sell foreign exchange for their own account, nor hold, borrow or lend foreign exchange to an authorised market participant. Other conditions require that FX brokers shall not outsource their trade to any single third party who can skew the price according to their own trading book.
For the past months, the BoG has rigorously embarked on reforms in Forex market, which included the forex forward auctions and the adoption of a new technology, Refinitiv Spot Matching platform, which automates FX trading.
Other key conditions require that on each trading day, authorized FX brokers shall be required to send to the BoG an interim report at mid-day and an end of day report when the market closes, both of which should cover pricing and volumes.
FX brokers are also to adhere to all applicable requirements under the Ghana Interbank FX Market Conduct rules. The failure will attract penalties and/or revoke authorisation if any FX broker is deemed to have deviated from any of the Ghana Interbank FX Market Conduct rules.
An FX broker shall apply for a renewal of authorisation as an FX broker in Ghana by the end of the first working week of December of every calendar year;
The Bank is further requiring that all FX brokers by necessity have a robust system in place with the required safeguards against cybercrime and other forms of internet or other technology threats in line with the Bank of Ghana’s Cyber Security Directives.
GSB