Bank of Ghana urges rural and community banks to embed ESG principles and reiterates at least one-woman board requirement

In a keynote address at the Second ARB Women’s Conference and the climax of the 10th National Rural Banking Week, the Bank of Ghana set out expectations for Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) to treat environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors as core to financial inclusion, risk management and institutional resilience. The central bank pointed to its Sustainable Banking Principles and its Corporate Governance Directive for RCBs as the regulatory foundation for integrating environmental and social considerations into operations and strengthening fit-and-proper leadership, oversight and accountability. The address noted that nearly 80 percent of adults in Ghana now have access to financial services but women continue to lag, positioning RCBs as key channels to close the gender gap. It cited that about 63 percent of loans issued by RCBs go to women and that this portfolio performs strongly, with RCBs’ average non-performing loan ratios described as far below the wider banking sector. The Bank of Ghana also reiterated its requirement that every RCB board includes at least one woman and urged banks to broaden women’s influence into strategy, product development and credit decision-making. On climate risk, the speech flagged the effect of more frequent floods and droughts on rural incomes and loan performance and encouraged RCBs to support green finance opportunities such as renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, water conservation and eco-friendly rural enterprises, alongside continued supervisory engagement and capacity-building with ARB Apex Bank and development partners.