The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has rolled out a strict, tiered penalty regime for dud cheque issuers, imposing financial fines of up to 20 per cent and a multi-year ban on cheque issuance and new credit facilities for repeat offenders.
A first offence will attract a 10% penalty on the cheque’s face value, plus a warning letter. The offence is reported to Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) and BoG.
A second offence will attract a 15% penalty, another warning, and further reporting to CRBs and BoG.
However, a third offence will attract a 20% penalty, plus a 3-year ban from issuing cheques and a 1-year ban from accessing new credit facilities.
The ban is communicated to all banks and deposit-taking institutions.
Adverse CRB reports may lower credit scores, increase borrowing costs, and limit future access to funds.
Banks must notify affected customers within 5 working days of a ban, recall all unused cheque books, and stop issuing new ones.
Customers who fail to return unused cheque books within 10 working days risk additional sanctions, including a ban on operating current accounts and being added to BoG’s Directory of High-Risk Cheque Issuers.
BoG advises customers to check account balances and pending transactions before issuing cheques, avoid issuing cheques based on expected future funds unless certainty of timely clearance exists, keep records of issued cheques and their presentation dates, and promptly contact the bank if funds may be insufficient.
