The West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) has revealed that Commercial Banks and other financial institutions in Ghana and the West African sub-region will soon operate under the same regulatory framework.

The WAMI, which is the agency responsible for preparing the ground for the introduction of a single currency for the sub-region in two years, said the new financial regulations would border on all aspects of the financial sector, including those on prudential and capital adequacy requirements, and would be co-ordinated by WAMI.

This was disclosed by Dr Abwaku Englama, Director-General (DG) of WAMI in Accra, where the WAMI headquarters is based.

He explained that the initiative was part of a number of lessons the institute learnt from the ongoing financial crises in the Eurozone.

“We have learnt a lot from that crises and one thing we realised is that they (Eurozone members) didn’t have common banking laws and that was difficult for them to monitor the operations and performance of the banks in the zone. We want to correct that even before we start the union,” Dr Englama, who took office as WAMI’s DG in February this year, said.

Dr Englama further hinted that a draft report of the common regulatory framework for all banks in WAMI will be ready by the end of 2013 and once ratified by the member countries, the new laws will begin to apply to banks and other financial institutions in the zone.

“The idea is to make it such that what applies to banks in Ghana will also apply to banks in, say, Sierra Leone and other member states of the WAMZ (West Africa Monetary Zone),” Dr Englama said.

He disclosed further that the institute was also in the process of initiating proposals for a deposit insurance scheme for banks in the member states, that, he explained was to ensure that in the event a bank in the sub-region ran into difficulty, the insurance scheme could be used to cushion the depositors.

“All these are in preparation for the take-off of the union and the Eco (the name of the proposed single currency),” Dr Englama noted.

Dr. Englama admonished member countries to collaborate with the institute in making the integration a reality, explaining that its activities would amount to nothing if the decisions adopted were not ratified and domesticated in their respective countries.