Ghana
Regulations
This page provides AWS financial institution customers with information about the legal and regulatory requirements in Ghana that may apply to their use of AWS services.
Yes. Financial institutions in Ghana are permitted to use cloud services, provided that they comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, such as those described below.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is the central bank of Ghana and regulator of the banking and non-banking financial sector in Ghana. It is mandated to formulate and implement monetary policy, regulate payment and settlement systems, and supervise all licensed banking and non-banking financial institutions in Ghana.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the principal regulatory authority for capital markets in Ghana and is mandated to supervise the securities industry in Ghana including the registration, licensing and regulation of fund managers, mutual funds and other capital market operators in Ghana.
The National Insurance Commission (NIC) is the regulator of the insurance industry in Ghana and is responsible for supervision and regulation of the insurance market.
The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) approves, licenses, regulates and monitors pension fund managers, custodians, trustees and other entities operating within the pensions sector.
Financial Institutions in Ghana may be subject to a number of different legal and regulatory requirements when they use cloud services.
The applicable laws and guidelines issued by BoG, SEC, NPRA and NIC provide a framework for financial institutions in Ghana when they intend to use cloud services. Key legislation, guidelines and directives include the following:
• Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016
• Bank of Ghana Outsourcing Directive, 2024
• Bank of Ghana Cyber and Information Security Directive, 2026
• National Insurance Act, 2021
• NIC Cyber Security Directives, 2024
• Insurers Directive, 2024
• Securities Industry Act, 2016
• National Pensions Act, 2008
• NPRA Guidelines on ICT Requirements for Trustees
The above framework covers a variety of contractual requirements and operational areas, including due diligence, risk management, business continuity, anti-money laundering and ESG compliance, monitoring and oversight of outsourcing arrangements.
Customers that have questions about the applicable regulations, and how these may apply to their use of AWS services, can reach out to their account representative.
The applicable regulatory framework may change over time in Ghana as the financial sector is evolving. AWS is working to help customers proactively respond to new rules and guidelines. AWS encourages its financial institutions customers to obtain appropriate advice on their compliance with all regulatory and legal requirements that are relevant to their business, including other local regulations, guidelines and laws.
AWS is committed to offering customers a strong compliance framework and advanced tools and security measures that customers can use to evaluate meet, and demonstrate compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Financial institutions who are using or planning to use AWS services can take the following steps to better understand their compliance needs:
1. Consider the purpose of the workload(s) under consideration and whether they are regulated, and the relevant categories of data in order to anticipate which legal and regulatory requirements may apply.
2. Assess the importance, materiality and criticality of the functions proposed to be outsourced and the impact on the risk profile of the financial institution in light of local regulatory requirements. Regulated financial institutions must comply with applicable regulatory approvals or notification requirements prior to engaging cloud service providers. In particular, financial institutions subject to the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 and its implementing Bank of Ghana Outsourcing Directive, 2024 are required to obtain the Bank of Ghana’s written approval prior to outsourcing their core functions.
3. Ensure that the financial institution’s Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system covers all outsourced IT services, including cloud computing services, as required by the Bank of Ghana Cyber and Information Security Directive, 2026.
4. Review the AWS Shared Responsibility Model and map AWS responsibilities and customer responsibilities according to each AWS service that will be used. Customers can also use AWS Artifact to access AWS audit reports and conduct their assessment of the control responsibilities.
5. Customers who have further questions about how AWS services can enable their security and compliance needs, or who would like more information, can contact their account representative.
Financial institutions in Ghana using AWS should also consider applicable data protection and privacy requirements. The Data Protection Act, 2012 (the “Act”) governs the processing of personal data in Ghana and imposes obligations on data controllers and data processors, including requirements relating to lawful processing, data security and cross-border transfer of data. The Data Protection Commission (DPC) is mandated to regulate the processing of personal data and monitor compliance with the Act.
The AWS whitepaper Using AWS in the Context of Common Privacy and Data Protection Considerations provides useful information to customers using AWS cloud services to store or process personal data.
Financial institutions processing or planning to process personal data of European data subjects should visit AWS’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Center . More information on these requirements is included in Navigating GDPR Compliance on AWS .
Resources
General
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) on AWS
This guide provides customers with information to be able to plan for and document the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance of their AWS workloads. This includes the selection of controls that meet specific PCI DSS requirements, planning of evidence gathering to meet assessment testing procedures, and explaining their control implementation to their PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA)..
Using AWS in the Context of Common Privacy and Data Protection Considerations
This document provides information to assist customers who want to use AWS to store or process content containing personal data, in the context of common privacy and data protection considerations. It will help customers understand the way AWS services operate, including how customers can address security and encrypt their content. The geographic locations where customers can choose to store content and other relevant considerations. The respective roles the customer and AWS each play in managing and securing content stored on AWS services.
AWS Compliance Quick Reference Guide
AWS has many compliance-enabling features that you can use for your regulated workloads in the AWS cloud. These features allow you to achieve a higher level of security at scale. Cloud-based compliance offers a lower cost of entry, easier operations, and improved agility by providing more oversight, security control, and central automation.
The purpose of this paper is to describe how AWS and our customers in the financial services industry achieve operational resilience using AWS services.
Data Classification and Secure Cloud Adoption
This paper provides insight into classification schemes for public and private organizations to leverage when moving data to the cloud. It identifies practices and models currently implemented by global first movers and early adopters, examines how implementation of these schemes can simplify cloud adoption, and recommends practices to harmonize national requirements to internationally recognized standards and frameworks.
AWS Policy Perspectives: Data Residency
This paper addresses: The real and perceived security risks expressed by governments when they demand in-country data residency. Commercial, public sector, and economic impact of in-country data residency policies with a focus on government data. Considerations for governments to evaluate before enforcing requirements that can unintentionally limit public sector digital transformation goals leading to increased cybersecurity risk.
This document is intended to provide information to assist AWS customers with integrating AWS into their existing control framework supporting their IT environment. This document includes a basic approach to evaluating AWS controls and provides information to assist customers with integrating control environments. This document also addresses AWS-specific information around general cloud computing compliance questions.
Guidelines for systematically reviewing and monitoring your AWS resources for security best practices.
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