Next of kin must be beneficiaries to access accounts – BOG advises account holders

The Bank of Ghana has advised the public to choose a next of kin who is of legal age and capable of providing necessary account information about an account holder.

The account holder will provide the name, contact number, and address of their next of kin as part of their bank’s Know-Your-Customer, or KYC, policy.

Defining a next of kin as the closest living relative of an account holder who can be contacted in case the account holder is unreachable, the BOG stated that a next of kin cannot necessarily access the account holders funds unless they have so been nominated as a beneficiary.

“There is a pervasive misconception that the person nominated as Next-of-Kin by the account holder automatically inherits the funds in the account when the account holder passes on.”

“To inherit or have access to the account of a deceased customer, one will have to be named in the deceased customer’s will as a beneficiary of the account, and a court of competent jurisdiction will have to grant Letters of Probate to empower the person who has been named in the will as a beneficiary to obtain access to the deceased customer’s account,” explained a public notice from the Central Bank on Tuesday, 27th August.

In the case of a person who dies without a will (or intestate), their administrators, appointed through a court, can have access to the deceased person’s account, according to the BOG.

The Bank accordingly advised account holders to choose competent next of kin to their account.