(1) A body corporate which intends to operate as a payment service provider shall apply in a prescribed form for a payment system licence.

(2) An application made under subsection (1) shall

(a) set out the nature and functionality of the proposed payment services that will be made available to customers, and

(b) contain sufﬁcient information to enable the Bank of Ghana to evaluate the requirements including

(i) information about the applicant and the business organisation of the applicant;

(ii) a list of the current or proposed signiﬁcant shareholders of the applicant and the percentages of shares owned or to be owned by each;

(iii) proposed payment services or products to be made available to customers;

(iv) a business plan;

(v) financial projections for its proposed payment services Operations for the ﬁrst ﬁve years indicating the intended initial geographical coverage of the service, including agent coverage where applicable;

(vi) an expansion plan, where applicable;

(vii) information on all bank accounts to be used in the conduct of payment services where applicable; and

(i) a valid registration certiﬁcate obtained from the Data Protection Commission or any entity

authorised by law to permit the entity to control data; and

(ii) any other information that the Bank of Ghana may require.

(3) An applicant is eligible to be licensed or have a licence renewed as a payment service provider if that applicant satisﬁes the requirements speciﬁed under sections 18, 19, 20, 44 and 47.

(4) An applicant shall have at least a thirty percent equity participation of a Ghanaian.

(5) The Bank of Ghana may, within ninety days following receipt of a complete application or where further information has been required, after receipt of the information, grant or refuse the application.

(6) The Bank of Ghana may grant a licence where the Bank of Ghana is satisﬁed that the applicant has met the requirements for a licence specified under sections 18, 19, 20, 44 and 47, and any other requirement speciﬁed by the Bank of Ghana.

(7) The Bank of Ghana may, where it grants a licence, impose terms and conditions, as the Bank of Ghana considers appr0priate.

(8) The Bank of Ghana may reject the application for a licence where

(a) the applicant or any of its signiﬁcant shareholders has been convicted of a crime involving a ﬁnancial transaction in any jurisdiction within the past ten years; or

(b) the application contains false or misleading information;

(c) the applicant fails to respond to a request from the Bank of Ghana for additional information Within thirty days of a second request for the same information;

(d) the documents submitted by the applicant are incomplete; or

(e) the Bank of Ghana on reasonable grounds is convinced that the applicant is incapable of performing the functions under this Act.

(9) An applicant whose application is rejected may re-submit the application if the deﬁciencies that formed the basis for refusal of the initial application have been rectiﬁed.