Accra, Ghana, June 6, 202//-Latest assessment conducted by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on banks and Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions’ (SDIs’) compliance with its consumer protection regime, has uncovered massive data protection breaches in the country.
According to the assessment report, “Personal details taken from remittance customers were subsequently used for telemarketing promotional activities without the consent of the affected persons”.
“Abandoned forms or slips used by customers for balance enquiries and other transactions were not properly disposed of, thereby exposing customer personal details to third parties”, the report added.
These are in total violation of the country’s Data Protection Act, 2012 (The Act) which is legislation enacted by the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana to protect the privacy and personal data of individuals.
It regulates the process personal information is acquired, kept, used or disclosed by data controllers and data processors by requiring compliance with certain data protection principles.
Non compliance with provisions of the Act may attract either civil liability, or criminal sanctions, or both, depending on the nature of the infraction.
The Act also establishes a Data Protection Commission, which is mandated to ensure compliance with its provisions, as well as maintain the Data Protection Register.
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 (i) Board and Management oversight of the complaints handling function; (ii) unfair banking practices; (iii) privacy and data protection issues; (iv) ambience of banking halls; (v) disclosure and transparency; and (vi) the content of marketing material.
Other key findings
The report conducted by the BoG’s Market Conduct Examinations Office within its Financial Stability Department also found out that SDIs and commercial banks failed to deliver on marketing promise of disbursing certain loan facilities within 24 hours.
It also noted that access to most banking facilities such as banking halls and ATMs were not friendly to physically-challenged persons. There were instances where hawking activities were allowed in front of some banking halls, the report said.
Disclosure and Transparency requirements: It lamented: “Some borrowers were not provided with pre-agreement disclosure statements prior to the signing of loan agreements.
Borrowers were not clearly informed of the requirement to submit their credit data to credit bureaus and to conduct credit search on them when taking loans”.
Touching on unfair banking practices, the report indicated: “Customers’ savings accounts were charged for over-the-counter withdrawals below stipulated minimum amounts.
Customers were automatically signed onto E-banking products and services and consequently charged without their explicit consent”.
“Changes in terms and conditions of loan agreements were made and implemented without the required period of prior notification of customers.
The maximum penalty of 0.25% for early repayment of loans was breached. Prior to pursuing enforcement actions on loan defaulters, the minimum prescribed notice period of 30 days was not given some borrowers”.
The report also noted that channels provided by banks to enable customers to lodge complaints such as SMS, Website portal and dedicated telephone lines, did not function.
It acknowledged under-reporting of complaint data to Bank of Ghana Non-compliance with Bank of Ghana’s complaint resolution timelines.
Following the completion of the banking and SDI sector clean-up in 2019, the BoG has intensified its market conduct supervision.
Since the Market Conduct Office published its hotline and other contact details in 2019, the Office has received an average of thirty (30) weekly complaints from the public through phone calls, WhatsAPP messages, e-mails, and direct walk-ins to the Market Conduct Office located at Cedi House. These complaints have typically been resolved by the Office within twenty (20) days.
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.
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