In Ghana, fintech regulation often comes with a public notice and a pointed tone. The Bank of Ghana’s preferred enforcement tool? Name, shame, and cite the law. And when crypto is involved, the warnings tend to get louder. Just weeks after calling out Yellow Card over its alleged involvement with a dubious stablecoin scheme, the central bank has returned with another blacklist — this time flagging a new batch of digital finance platforms it says are operating without the proper licenses.

Today, the BoG released Notice No. BG/FMD/2025/41 titled “UNAPPROVED MONEY TRANSFER ORGANISATIONS (MTOS) OPERATING IN THE REMITTANCE AND THE GHANA FOREX MARKET.” The document named ten entities the central bank claims are not licensed to facilitate cross-border payments — including notable pan-African startups Eversend and HuruPay.

Others on the list include Remit Union, Roze Remit, Nairagram, and Monty Global, alongside lesser-known players like IZI Send and I-Transfer. The BoG made it crystal clear: under Section 3.1 of Ghana’s Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723), no one is allowed to “deal in foreign exchange” without a license. Translation: if you’re not on the official guest list, you’re not getting into the remittance party.

An Old Script with New Names

This isn’t BoG’s first regulatory rodeo. The central bank has spent the better part of the past two years cracking down on unlicensed operators, publishing names, citing laws, and occasionally wielding the threat of sanctions like licence withdrawals. The message is simple: fintech in Ghana may be fast-moving, but it’s not a free-for-all.

Back in June, Yellow Card — a US-based digital asset firm with operations across Africa — found itself on the receiving end of a similar warning. BoG accused it of collaborating with an obscure player called HanyPay to promote a stablecoin known as AKL Lumi, allegedly issued by a shadowy organisation named the “Africa Diaspora Central Bank” (ADCB).

For the record, Yellow Card claims it has never — and would never — collaborate with HanyPay, a platform it says falsely claimed to have struck a partnership in February 2025. It responded with letters, press releases, and a plea for better coordination from regulators. Ghana, it seems, is learning the hard way that regulating fintech is sometimes as much about managing perception as it is about enforcing statutes.

Eversend is no flash-in-the-pan. The Uganda-born fintech has raised millions from investors and operates across multiple African markets, including Nigeria and Kenya. Like Yellow Card, it pitches itself as a partner to regulators. Now, it finds itself lumped into a notice more commonly associated with fly-by-night operations.

BoG’s caution is not entirely misplaced. In 2023, Ghanaians received $2.4 billion in personal remittances — a vital source of household income and foreign exchange. The central bank’s concern is that informal or unregulated platforms could distort the market, expose users to fraud, or compromise monetary stability. Ghana, after all, still bears the scars of the Menzgold fiasco — the infamous gold-trading scheme that collapsed spectacularly, wiping out investor savings.

The BoG has been ramping up scrutiny of fintech partnerships and money transfer arrangements since early 2024. It recently mandated that all Payment Service Providers (PSPs) conduct Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) on partners — a regulatory euphemism for “double-check who you’re getting into bed with.”