The Bank of Ghana has taken steps to deal with the high rate of issuance of dud cheques by customers of banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs), by tightening sanctions to include penalties escalating from a 10 percent levy on first-time offenders to a three-year cheque-issuing ban for repeat offenders.
In a statement released on June 24, 2026,the central bank stated that despite previous measures to discourage the issuance of dud cheques, it has observed with grave concern the high issuance of dud cheques by some customers of banks and SDIs, a development it noted has consequential effects on the acceptance of cheques for transactions and confidence in the payment system.
The Central Bank stated that on first offence, the bank or SDI shall levy the account holder 10 percent of the cheque’s face value and issue a Warning Notification to the affected customer on the consequences of repeating the offence. The bank or SDI shall additionally report the offence to the Credit Reference Bureaus and the Bank of Ghana, and place the customer under surveillance for a minimum period of one year.
It futher stated that where a customer issues a dud cheque for the second time within one year of the first offence, the drawee bank or SDI shall impose a levy of 15 percent of the cheque’s face value and issue another Warning Notification to the customer. The offence shall again be reported to the Credit Reference Bureaus and the Bank of Ghana.
On a third offence within one year of the first, however the drawee bank or SDI shall not only impose a levy of 20 percent of the cheque’s face value and report the offence to the Credit Reference Bureaus and the Bank of Ghana but also shall consequently ban any customer who reaches the third offence from issuing cheques within Ghana for a minimum period of three years. The customer may, however, continue to receive cheques and funds into the affected account and perform other electronic transactions.
The central bank shall additionally ban such a customer from accessing new credit facilities from the banking system for one year, and shall notify all banks and SDIs of the ban.
The Bank of Ghana also added that it may also publish the list of third-time offenders.
The Bank of Ghana further indicated that customers who fail to return unused cheque books within ten working days of the notification date shall be reported to the central bank, which may ban them from operating any current account.
Banks and SDIs are required to continue submitting data on customers who issue dud cheques to the Credit Reference Bureaus in accordance with Section 25(c) of the Credit Reporting Act, 2007 (Act 726).
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