The Islamic Finance Research Institute Ghana (IFRIG) held its first Islamic Finance Forum (IFF) outside Accra after holding the first five editions in Accra.

The 6th IFF came off on April 25, 2026, at the Law Faculty Auditorium of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) with IFRIG restating its call for all major stakeholders in the Non-Interest Banking ecosystem to sustain their advocacy efforts towards a rollout of the industry in Ghana.

The event under the theme: ‘Non-Interest Banking (Islamic) in Ghana: Market Readiness, Products and Regulation,’ saw a series on presentations and a plenary session in what was a crash course in Ghana’s non-interest banking journey since 2020.

Speaking on the sidelines of the gathering, IFRIG Board Member, Mallam Attahiru Maccido emphasized the need for Ghana to take lessons from Nigeria and other flourishing non-interest banking markets.

On the decision to decentralize the gathering, he said: “We have long been holding these gatherings in Accra, it was only right to pivot to an area like this with as many potential customers, so the idea was to decentralize the gathering, by coming to Kumasi.”

“We are here to share with the population that the central bank has given guidelines for non-interest banking subject to all necessary certifications, it is time to also call on banks and the investor community to take advantage and begin rolling out services,” he added.

The event was attended by members of the academic community, Ulamaa (Muslim clergy) and traditional leaders across communities in the Ashanti Region.

IFF is one of IFRIG’s flagship programmes aimed at pushing their advocacy efforts to targeted audiences, it is only second behind the annual Islamic Finance International Conference (IFIC), an annual gathering where IFRIG brings people across the world to share insights on local and global trends with respect to Islamic finance.

Ghana's Islamic finance strides

Ghana has in the last few years made significant strides in the area of advocacy for the adoption of Islamic finance (non-interest banking and finance).

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) in January 2026 published final guidelines for the upcoming industry with modalities for the rollout of banking windows and full-fledged banks.

Groups like IFRIG continue to lead advocacy efforts through a series of activities aimed at securing a smooth take off for the industry.