Accra, Nov. 20, GNA - The Bank of Ghana (BoG) on Thursday charged financial institutions dealing in money transfer to be wary of individuals and organizations using their transfer systems for laundering and financing terrorist activities.

Speaking at the opening the Trust Bank Limited Western Union Money Transfer Service in Accra, Mr Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, First Deputy Governor of BoG, said since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the tracking of illicit funds had been intensified and urged such institutions in Ghana not to be left out in apprehending the culprits.

He said the increased volume of remittances through the banks gave room for unscrupulous and dangerous persons to use the mechanism to transmit illicit money acquired through evil means and intended to perpetrate evil.

Mr Asiedu-Mante asked banks to formulate policies and procedures for customer due diligence that would facilitate the mitigation of this practice. "These should include customer acceptance policy, customer identification, on-going monitoring of high risk accounts and risk management.

"These four elements which constitute the framework for a programme should be incorporated into the bank's risk management and control procedures to ensure that all aspects of the Know Your Customer risk are identified and properly mitigated."