Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Matilda Asante Asiedu, has warned that Ghana must strengthen its fight against financial crime to avoid being placed back on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

She made the call at the opening of the 2026 Technical Committee Workshop of the Committee for Cooperation Between Law Enforcement Agencies and the Banking Community (COCLAB).

According to her, the outcome of Ghana's latest mutual evaluation carries significant implications for the country, making it critical for institutions responsible for combating financial crime to deepen collaboration and strengthen enforcement efforts.

“The outcome of this assessment carries real weight,” she said, adding that the financial cost of being grey-listed could be significant.

“So we definitely don't want to go back there to being grey-listed,” Mrs Asante Asiedu stressed.

The Second Deputy Governor said recent collaborative efforts under COCLAB had resulted in a number of successful interventions, including the arrest of 430 people, among them three foreign nationals, in an intelligence-led operation against illegal online operators in parts of Accra.

The operation, carried out in 2023, was among several coordinated efforts aimed at disrupting financial crimes and illegal activities within the financial ecosystem.

She said collaboration among member institutions had also helped to disrupt fraud syndicates, recover illicitly transferred funds and support successful investigations and prosecutions.

Mrs Asante Asiedu further cited the conviction of a bank employee who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzling GH¢1.2 million, following improved information sharing among relevant institutions.

The warning comes at a time when financial crime is increasingly shifting towards digital platforms.

According to the Bank of Ghana's 2025 fraud report, fraud incidents across the financial ecosystem increased from 16,733 in 2024 to 24,778 in 2025, representing a 48% increase.

While fraud incidents within the traditional banking system declined, cases involving digital transactions continued to rise, with fraud incidents in the digital space increasing by 98% between 2022 and 2025.

Mrs Asante Asiedu said the changing nature of financial crime requires a more strategic and proactive approach, as criminals continue to exploit the growing use of digital financial services.

She said COCLAB is therefore being restructured around dedicated working groups focusing on public sensitisation as well as information sharing and investigation, with a steering committee of heads of member institutions providing strategic direction.

According to her, the success of the collaboration should not be measured by the number of meetings or reports produced, but by concrete outcomes such as stronger intelligence sharing, successful investigations and prosecutions, asset recovery, improved regulatory compliance and a measurable reduction in financial crime.

She stressed that strengthening these efforts would be crucial as Ghana seeks to maintain confidence in its financial system and avoid the potentially costly consequences of returning to the FATF grey list.