The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, has called on Banks to strengthen their risk management capabilities as well as improve upon their supervisory processes.

Other areas that Banks would have to pay attention to are the expansion of access to financial services and the promotion of good corporate governance.

These were made known in a speech read for him at the International Banking Forum which took place in Accra from July 29 - 30, 2010. The forum was host-sponsored by Ghana Commercial Bank Ltd. with support from Bank of China and Stanbic Bank.

He said strong anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism regimes enhance the financial sector's integrity and stability which in turn facilitates the country's integration into the global financial system.

The Minister emphasized the importance of financial institutions to have adequate controls and procedures in place to be better-informed about their clients.

He said the application of strict customer due diligence by financial institutions and a high degree of transparency are crucial in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Dr. Duffuor said the integrity of a national financial system is thus essential to the financial sector and macroeconomic stability.

He said global financial stability hinges on the collective action at the international level and effective national systems.

"Robust anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regimes should therefore be seen as an important pillar of the international regulatory and supervisory system and must be made part and parcel of the efforts to strengthen the global financial architecture," he said.

A Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Millison Narh, said the 2008 financial crisis exposed some regulatory inadequacies and practices in risk management.

He said these are being addressed and the approach is to balance regulation with innovation to ensure a more transparent intermediation process for sustainable economic growth without jeopardizing the stability of the financial sector.

Mr. Narh explained that the main objective of the regulatory reform is to establish frameworks that capture all significant risks to financial activities, especially 'off-balance' sheet transactions.

Mr. Narh announced that the Bank of Ghana has adopted the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in line with international standards adding that the establishment of the Collateral Registry and the Credit Reference Bureaux seek to promote transparency and easy credit accessibility.

He said a Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has also been established to address money laundering and to counter the financing of terrorism.

The Deputy Managing Director (Operations) of Ghana Commercial Bank Limited, Mr. Samuel Sarpong, who chaired the opening ceremony, gave the assurance that GCB would continue to cooperate with financial regulatory authorities and their allies to promote anti-money laundering measures.

The forum which is the third of its kind was organised by the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) and the International Financial Services Association (IFSA) in co-operation with the BAFT-IFSA Africa Council.

Issues dealt with were in relation to the effective development of industry-wide business solutions in Africa and an enhanced collaboration with other regional councils in Asia, Europe, the United States of America (USA) and Latin America.

The forum also discussed topics such as "Sustaining value creation in the financial services industry through the application of appropriate risk modeling practices", Liquidity crisis and drivers in trade finance that spark growth". "Inter-regional trade flows", "Anti-money laundering and combating financial terrorism", "Challenges and opportunities of mobile payments" and "Major initiatives for transaction banking", among others.

Delegates from Ghana, the USA, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, Uganda and China participated in the forum.