The Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana has issued the Securities Industry (Dealing in Government of Ghana Securities) Guidelines 2025, setting out licensing requirements and ongoing obligations for entities dealing in Government of Ghana (GoG) securities. The scope covers SEC-licensed primary dealers, broker-dealers and “primary dealers (others)”, and clarifies that dealing in GoG securities in the primary market requires Bank of Ghana authorisation. The framework requires licensing (with applications aligned to the Securities Industry (Licensing) Guidelines 2020), annual renewal, and maintenance of unimpaired minimum paid-up capital as prescribed under the 2020 licensing rules. Dealers must maintain at least four licensed representatives, ensure representatives hold dealer representative licences, and notify the SEC within 14 days of a representative’s resignation. Conduct and operational requirements include daily publication of competitive bid and offer quotations on a dealer’s website and dealing at quoted prices per Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) Rules, client KYC procedures, contract notes by the next business day, order time-stamping on receipt, execution or cancellation, and recordkeeping sufficient to reconstruct transactions with key client transaction documents retained for at least seven years. Non-bank dealers must maintain a trust account for GoG securities business and are restricted from granting unsecured credit to fund securities purchases (excluding margin trading). The guidelines also impose AML/CFT/CPF measures, including designation of an operationally independent reporting officer, a written monitoring framework, and cooperation with information requests from the SEC, the Financial Intelligence Centre and other competent authorities. Supervision and enforcement provisions include investigations and inspections, with a transitional period of six months from the effective date of the guidelines. Breaches can result in actions under the Securities Industry Act and administrative penalties ranging from 50 to 20,000 penalty units, payable within seven days after an order takes effect, while revocation, suspension or cancellation of a licence requires immediate cessation of the business and is subject to appeal under the Act.

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