The Market Conduct Office of the Bank of Ghana receives an average of 30 weekly complaints from the public.

This follows the completion of the Banking and Specialised Deposits-Taking Institutions sector clean-up in 2019 which has compelled the Bank of Ghana to intensify its market conduct supervision.

The public complaints are received through phone calls, WhatsApp messages, e-mails, and direct walk-ins to the Market Conduct Office located at Cedi House in Accra.

The central bank said the complaints typically are resolved by the Office within 20 days.

This was revealed in its assessment of banks and SDIs compliance with its consumer protection regime.

On-Site Conduct Supervision

The Market Conduct Office undertakes both off-site and on-site supervision of licensed institutions with the aim of ensuring that these institutions comply with all consumer protection requirements under relevant laws and as prescribed by the Bank of Ghana.

The maiden on-site conduct examinations were conducted by the Office from November 2019 to February 2020.

The exercise involved officials of the Market Conduct Office visiting eight selected banks to examine the structures, systems, and processes in place to promote consumer protection and the early resolution of customer complaints, and to generally assess compliance with relevant market conduct rules.

Specifically, the examinations covered a number of key areas including the Board and Management oversight of the complaints handling function; unfair banking practices; privacy and data protection issues; the ambience of banking halls; disclosure and transparency and the content of marketing material.

It said the relevant banks have committed to addressing the identified issues within timelines agreed with the Bank of Ghana.

The Central Bank concluded that it will continue to deploy all legal tools available to it to pursue its financial stability and consumer protection mandate, as well as continue to sensitize consumers on their rights and obligations in their dealings with licensed financial institutions.