Ghana applies for a banking licence for its Women's Development Bank
Market women, susu collectors and bankers helped design the 'last-mile' lender, Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang said.
Accra — Ghana's government has applied to the Bank of Ghana for a banking licence for the proposed Women's Development Bank, a major step towards opening the institution.
Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang announced the application at the 15th Ghana Economic Forum (GEF 2026). She said the committee set up to develop the bank had finished its work and submitted the application to the regulator.
Designed with market women
The committee brought together market women, susu collectors, representatives of women's business associations, financial sector professionals and other stakeholders, so that the bank reflects the needs of the people it is meant to serve.
"My conviction has always been that an institution established to serve women must be shaped by the experiences, aspirations and everyday realities of those very women," the Vice President said.
She described the bank as a last-mile institution that will bring banking services closer to women entrepreneurs, especially those whose businesses keep markets and local economies running. "This bank is not meant to be just another financial institution," she said.
The bank is expected to widen access to financial services for women, particularly market traders and small business owners who struggle to get formal financing.
The forum's theme this year was "From Stabilization to Scale: Mobilizing Capital, Technology, and Policy for Ghana's Next Industrial Wave."
Source: Citi Newsroom, 10 November 2026.
