The
Ghana
Association
of
Banks
(GAB)
has
dismissed
claims
that
commercial
banks
in
the
country
have
begun
processes
to
close
the
personal
foreign
currency
savings
accounts
of
customers
by
July
31.
The
Association
explains
that
some
banks
are
implementing
measures
to
address
the
situation
where
customers
save
foreign
currencies
in
their
savings
accounts
as
a
store
of
value,
leading
to
speculation
and
deepening
the
cedi’s
woes.
This
follows
information
Citi
Business
News
gathered
last
week
that
some
of
the
banks
are
asking
clients
with
such
accounts
to
hold
their
foreign
currencies
in
e-wallets
or
current
accounts.
In
an
interview
with
Citi
Business
News,
Chief
Executive
of
the
Ghana
Association
of
Banks
(GAB),
John
Awuah,
explained
that,
“no
bank
has
taken
any
decision
to
discontinue
deposits
in
foreign
currencies.
Rather,
one
bank
has
reviewed
its
products
offerings
and
decided
that
they
are
not
going
to
henceforth
be
operating
using
accounts
in
foreign
currencies.
For
many,
they
believe
the
initiative
was
a
tactic
by
banks
to
impose
fees
and
diminish
customers’
forex
gain
as
the
cedi
continues
to
fall
in
value.
But
in
clarifying
the
situation,
Mr.
Awuah
explained
that
the
bank,
“observed
a
trend
where
customers
hoard
foreign
currencies
in
their
foreign
currency
savings
accounts.
A
practice
which
is
feeding
into
speculation
and
leading
to
the
depreciation
of
the
Cedi
and
we
do
not
want
to
be
part
of
this,”
he
said.
Mr.
Awuah,
however,
noted
that
businesses
that
transact
in
foreign
currencies
can
still
use
the
foreign
currency
current
account
or
other
accounts
such
as
the
Foreign
Exchange
Account.