Sending money home is not the same as investing it

Ghanaians abroad sent home about US$7.8 billion in 2025 — roughly 6% of GDP, and more than the country received in foreign direct investment. Almost all of it was spent.

Bank of Ghana would like some of it invested instead. Its Remit2Invest initiative, launched in April 2026, treats the diaspora as domestic investors abroad, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has been pressing market operators to build products for them. The SEC's Deputy Director General for Finance has put the potential at around US$4 billion.

The intent is there. What is missing is the information anyone would need to act on it.

The problem that only applies to you

A Ghanaian in Accra investing cedis in a cedi fund has one question: what does it return?

You have two. What does it return, and what does the cedi do against the pound or the dollar while your money is in it? The second usually matters more.

Here is the same thing twice — once where the currency hurt, once where it helped. Both use real figures from the same three months.

When the currency worked against you

Someone in Accra bought a one-ounce Ghana Gold Coin on 1 June and still holds it. Follow the money:

The gold went up 0.51%. Their holding went down 3.95%.

Nothing happened to the metal. The cedi got stronger, so the same dollar-priced gold converted into fewer cedis. That is the entire difference.

When the currency worked for you

Now a Ghanaian in London, over the same three months, putting money into a cedi money market fund. Same currency movement, opposite effect:

The fund did what it said. The extra five points came from the cedi strengthening while their money was in it — the same movement that cost the coin holder 4%.

The currency giveth and it taketh, and which it does depends on when you sent the money and when you take it out.

Both examples are the same three months. One person lost to the currency and one gained from it, holding different things. Neither fund factsheet nor coin circular mentions any of this, because for someone earning and spending in cedis it does not arise.

What that means in practice

A cedi return is not your return. A fund reporting 33% in cedis delivered something different to you, depending on where the exchange rate went. Over a year when the cedi weakens 20%, a 33% cedi return is roughly 6% in pounds. Over a year when it strengthens, the same return is worth considerably more.

Timing the transfer matters as much as picking the fund. Nobody selling you a fund will say this, because it is not their business — but the exchange rate on the day you send often moves your outcome more than the difference between the cheapest fund and the dearest.

Foreign currency accounts are an option too. Several Ghanaian banks offer dollar and pound accounts. Ask for the interest rate and the withdrawal charge before opening one: at the banks whose tariff guides we hold, withdrawing foreign cash costs 5% to 7% of the amount. We have asked GCB to confirm which currency its own deposit table refers to.

What you can actually reach from abroad

Here is what providers publish about reaching them from abroad, and what to ask where they do not.

Funds. Most Ghanaian fund managers accept applications from abroad in principle, and some publish how: Databank accepts foreign nationals, and IC opens accounts online with a passport. For any other manager, ask which documents they need and whether a Ghanaian bank account is required first.

Treasury bills. Through a Ghanaian bank or broker. Ask the same questions.

Listed shares. Through one of twenty-three licensed dealing members, at 1.5% to 2.5% each time you buy or sell under the exchange's rules. SBG Securities and EDC Stockbrokers set out how non-residents apply, and EDC asks for documents notarised abroad.

Gold. The Ghana Gold Coin is bought through a commercial bank, and Bank of Ghana states that purchases must be in cedis — foreign currency payment is not permitted for residents. Whether non-residents are treated differently is not addressed. The NewGold ETF trades on the exchange at around GH₵462 a unit and needs a broker, which returns you to the paragraph above.

Can you open an account without coming to Ghana?

Can I open an account without coming to Ghana?

For someone in London, Toronto or New York, that is the first question and the one that decides everything. Not the charge, not the return — whether the thing is reachable at all.

A few providers now answer it: IC, Databank, SBG Securities and EDC Stockbrokers among them, and four banks with accounts for Ghanaians abroad. All are set out on investing from abroad.

So ask before you send money, not after. Three questions: do you accept non-resident applications, what documents do you need, and is a Ghanaian bank account required first.

We are in contact with providers to close the gaps, and publish whatever they send, cited and dated — so the next person may not have to ask.

Three things worth doing regardless

Ask for the figure in your currency, or work it out. A cedi return means nothing to you until you convert it at both ends. Any manager quoting a return should be able to tell you the period it covers, and you can check what the exchange rate did over the same window.

Ask what happens when you want it back. Getting money into Ghana is easy; getting it out is where the questions arise. Ask about repatriation before you commit, not after.

And compare before you send. The cheapest Ghanaian fund we can verify charges 1.75% a year and the dearest 2.25%. That gap is small beside the currency movement — which is precisely why it is worth not also paying more than you need to.

Compare every fund we hold figures for · The 23 brokers, and what a trade costs · What gold has actually done, in both currencies