Over 25m enquiries conducted by financial institutions for credit appraisals, others in 2025

Banks accounted for 86.28% of the total enquiries for credit in 2025, making them the major users of the credit referencing system, a position the sector has maintained over the years. According to the 2025 Credit Reporting by the Bank of Ghana, the increasing number of mobile money loans and payroll lending explains the continuous increase in enquiries. Microfinance and Microcredit institutions accounted for 8.47%t of total enquiries in 2025, a decrease from 8.82% recorded in 2024.

Additionally, searches among savings and loan companies and others also decreased compared to the previous year. The credit enquiries for credit applications, credit bureau searches and loan recoveries constituted 87.21%, 10% and 3% respectively of total enquiries. The report also noted that financial institutions’ use of credit bureau services for credit monitoring purposes increased by 199.71% compared to the previous year.

This increase is attributed to the growth in mobile money loans and payroll lending. All licensed credit bureaus were actively engaged in the selling of credit reports and other services to financial institutions in the year under review. They receive the same number and type of data from financial institutions in accordance with the Bank of Ghana’s data submission requirements.

The difference in services related to their ability to provide credit reports that meet the needs of lenders. This section of the report discussed how the total number of enquiries conducted by financial institutions was distributed among the three licensed credit bureaus. The report was prepared in line with Section 58 of the Credit Reporting Act, 2007 (Act 726).

It presented a comprehensive overview of key developments in the CRS, statistical trends in credit enquiries and data submissions, the performance of credit bureaus, and the activities of financial institutions and Designated Data Providers (DDPs) during the year 2025. It provided clear, data-driven insights for regulators, industry participants and the public. Over 25 million enquiries were conducted by financial institutions and authorised users for credit application appraisals, loan recoveries and Know Your Customer purposes in 2025, the Bank of Ghana has disclosed in the 2025 Credit Reporting.

This represented a 12.12% decrease from the 2024 total of 29,496,440 enquiries. According to the Bank of Ghana, the decline was largely due to a reduction in traditional loan enquiries, which had been the primary driver of enquiry volumes in previous years. However, the upward trend in the use of credit bureau services affirms the importance of the credit referencing system in lenders’ credit administration processes.