Ghana's Ministry of Finance signs inter-agency agreement to strengthen AML and counter-terrorist financing controls in the gold sector

Ghana's Ministry of Finance announced the signing of an inter-agency agreement aimed at strengthening anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and proliferation financing (AML/CFT/PF) controls across the gold sector, with a particular focus on artisanal and small-scale gold mining. The agreement is positioned as a coordinated national response to gold-related financial crime risks during Ghana’s mutual evaluation by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA). Built on the Gold-sector AML/CFT/PF Joint Action Plan, the pact commits signatory agencies including the Bank of Ghana, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), the Minerals Commission and the Office of the Registrar of Companies to sustained action across three pillars: legal and regulatory reform, law enforcement and financial intelligence, and due diligence and beneficial ownership. The Ministry highlighted steps already taken, including the creation of an AML/CFT/PF desk at GoldBod, implementation of the Registrar of Companies’ beneficial ownership sanctions regime for non-compliant gold companies, and the start of application programming interface integration to enable real-time data sharing between the Registrar of Companies and GoldBod. The Ministry of Finance’s Mining and Industry Unit within the Real Sector Division is mandated to provide structured oversight to maintain continuity of the reforms beyond the GIABA assessment, with technical support for the work acknowledged from the UK-Ghana Gold Programme.