Fintech License in Ghana

A company intending to operate as a Dedicated Electronic Money Issuer (DEMI), Payment Service Provider (PSP), or Payment and Financial Technology Service Provider (PFTSP) in Ghana must obtain a license from the Bank of Ghana.

License Categories

There are six (6) license categories, each specifying permissible activities:

1. Dedicated Electronic Money Issuer (DEMI)
   Permissible activities:
   • Recruitment and management of agents
   • Creation and management of wallets
   • P2P On Net/Off Net
   • Cash-In and Cash-Out
   • Wallet-based domestic money transfers, including to/from bank accounts
   • Investment, savings, credit, insurance, and pension products (only in partnership with banks and regulated institutions)
   • Mobile money merchant acquiring
   • Termination of inbound international money transfer
2. Payment Service Provider – Scheme
   Permissible activities:
   • Domestic Card Brand Associations (e.g., Gh-Link)
   • Switching and routing of payment transactions and instructions
3. Payment Service Provider – Enhanced
   Permissible activities:
   • All permissible activities under the PSP-Medium license
   • Marketplace for financial services offered by regulated financial service providers
   • Merchant acquiring and aggregation
   • Payment processing
   • Printing and personalization of EMV Cards
   • Inward international remittances
   • Third-party payment gateway services
   • Limited use closed-loop virtual cards (funded via refunds, rewards, or users’ other accounts)
4. Payment Service Provider – Medium
   Permissible activities:
   • Connection to an Enhanced PSP to provide:
     • All permissible activities under the PSP-Standard license
     • Payment aggregation connected to Enhanced PSP
     • Biller/Merchant aggregation
     • POS deployment
     • Printing of non-cash payment instruments (e.g., cheques)
     • Mobile payment apps (with liability shift to PSP Enhanced)
5. Payment Service Provider – Standard
   Permissible activities:
   • Connection to an Enhanced PSP to offer mobile payment app services.
   • Reserved for Ghanaians and wholly-owned Ghanaian entities.
6. Payment and Financial Technology Service Provider (PFTSP)
   Permissible activities:
   • Digital product development, delivery, and support services
   • Credit scoring predictive analytics
   • AML/CFT centralized platform
   • Fraud management services
   • KYC and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) authentication services
   • Connection to DEMIs, PSPs, banks, and financial institutions