The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has signaled moves to establish solid presence across the nation to effectively monitor and supervise the operations of banking and non-banking financial institutions.

Dr. Johnson P. Asiama, an Economist at the Central Bank, said it was determined to ensure that, operators, especially in the micro-finance sector, get right with the law.

He was addressing a two-day training workshop for business and financial journalists drawn from the Northern Sector – Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and West Regions, in Kumasi.

It was organized by the Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) to help them to better report on financial matters.

Dr. Asiama said micro financial and other non-banking financial services needed to be properly regulated to safeguard the savings and investment of customers.

He reminded the people to do proper background checks on financial institutions before doing business with them.

They should satisfy themselves that these had been registered with the Central Bank and given the authorization to operate.

He said this was a precaution to avoid falling for fraudulent schemes and end up being swindled.

Dr. Christian R.K. Ahortor, Chief Economist at the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), speaking on “Regional economic integration: rationale, challenges and prospects”, underlined the need for greater political commitment to speed up economic integration of the sub-region.

There was already an established infrastructure and platform - common cheque clearing system and other monetary issues for smooth take-off of the single monetary zone and what was left with the political will on the part of the Heads of States to make the dream a reality.

Dr. Ahortor said he was confident that the single currency would be operational in countries, ready for it by year 2020.

He gave the assurance that WAMI would continue to strengthen partnership with all key stakeholders and strategic development institutions to deliver on the ECOWAS single currency road map by 2020.