In order to send a SWIFT payment to GHANA it is highly recommended to meet the following recommendations:
Information provided by the Beneficiary: Remitter should obtain all required bank information from the Beneficiary (e.g. SWIFT BIC, account number, and beneficiary bank address).
Central Bank: For additional information, please refer to www.bog.gov.gh.
Payment Formatting Rules for GHS
- Ordering Customer (SWIFT MT103 F50): Include account number, full name (no initials), and address of the ordering customer. Use of initials can delay receipt of funds by the beneficiary.
- Beneficiary Customer (SWIFT MT103 F59): Include account number, full name (no initials), and address of the beneficiary customer. Use of initials may delay receipt of funds by the beneficiary.
- Beneficiary Bank (SWIFT MT103 F57): Include SWIFT BIC with branch identifier, full name, and address of the beneficiary bank. There are no specific bank clearing codes in this country for cross-border payments. SWIFT BIC is key to routing payments to the beneficiary bank. SWIFT BIC is 8 or 11 alphanumeric characters: xxxxGHxx or xxxxGHxxxxx. Bank branch code is recommended to avoid payment delays.
- Reason for Payment (SWIFT MT103 F70): Purpose of payment is recommended.
For the following financial institutions in GHANA you can find a list of their correspondent banks with the currencies and nostro accounts. Also you will find an instructions how to track the payments and other useful information which will help you to send/receive a SWIFT funds transfer or investigate a status of existing payment.