Ghana has made significant progress in incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations in its financial sector in recent years, according to the Absa Bank Financial Markets Index (ABFMI) 2026.
The Ghana Sustainable Banking Principles (2019) encouraged banks to integrate ESG considerations into lending, risk management, and governance.
The Ghana Stock Exchange’s ESG Disclosures Guidance Manual (2022) also established a common framework for identifying, measuring, and reporting ESG impacts under the Global Reporting Initiative Standards. In addition, its revised Sustainability Disclosure Guidance Manual, launched in August 2026, adds double-materiality guidance aligned with IFRS S1/S2.
The ABFMI said the Ghanaian banking regulation has also expanded beyond sustainability reporting to prudential ESG-risk management.
“The Bank of Ghana’s Climate-Related Financial Risk Directive requires regulated institutions to incorporate climate-related financial risks into governance and risk-management systems. Together, these developments reposition ESG from primarily a corporate social responsibility concern to an issue of financial materiality and risk management”.
Ghana has established a legal framework supporting the enforceability of netting arrangements.
A key development is the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, which recognises netting arrangements in respect of eligible financial contracts.
The International Capital Market Association published its legal opinion on Ghana in 2024, confirming the validity of the Global Master Repurchase Agreement and the enforceability of itsclose-out netting provisions under Ghanaian law.
The focus now is on deepening this framework, including encouraging greater use of standard master agreements such as the GMRA and Global Master Securities Lending Agreement, providing greater legal certainty for repurchase agreement and securities lending transactions and their associated close-out netting provisions.