Yellow Card

Documented events with consequences still open. Each entry carries a source and a date.

1. Jun 10, 2025 Regulatory action Moderate ● open

   On 10 June 2025 the Bank of Ghana published notice BG/GOV/SEC/2025/13, calling on «the public, financial institutions and all relevant stakeholders to desist from engaging with Yellow Card Financial Inc.» on the basis that its activities are not approved by the Bank: the target is the YellowPay payment platform, «unapproved» and provided by «an entity not licensed by the Bank». Yellow Card rejects the premise — it says YellowPay «is not even available in Ghana» — and the notice, as of today, does not appear to have been withdrawn

   THE ACT, IN THE REGULATOR'S OWN WORDS. On 10 June 2025 the Bank of Ghana publishes notice number BG/GOV/SEC/2025/13, «Caution on unlicensed digital platforms – YellowPay and HanyPay», signed by the secretary Sandra Thompson. We read the original document, and these are its words: it has come to the Bank's attention that «YellowPay, an unapproved digital payment platform provided by Yellow Card Financial Inc., an entity not licensed by the Bank, is actively promoting itself as a provider of digital payment services, cryptocurrency trading, and cross-border remittance solutions». The platform, the regulator writes, «purports to enable users to make payments, send and receive electronic money and stable coins across borders, as well as convert stable coins into local currency; activities which require appropriate licensing from the Bank of Ghana». Then the second count: YellowPay is said to be engaged in an ongoing collaboration with HanyPay, an entity that «claims to be licensed by the Africa Diaspora Central Bank (ADCB)», to develop and integrate a new stablecoin, AKL Lumi — and the Bank adds two things, that HanyPay «is neither licensed nor authorized to operate within the jurisdiction of Ghana» and that the Bank of Ghana «does not recognize ADCB as a central bank». The part that concerns anyone using the service is the last one: the notice informs «the public, financial institutions, and all relevant stakeholders to DESIST from engaging with Yellow Card Financial Inc. and HanyPay Ghana, on the basis that their activities are not approved by Bank of Ghana». THE COMPANY'S REPLY, WHICH DENIES THE PREMISE AND NOT MERELY THE TONE. Yellow Card replied publicly on 11 June 2025 with a statement on its own blog. The central point is that the service complained of does not exist in that country: «the Yellow Pay service is not even available in Ghana». On the rest: the company states it has «never worked on the AKL Lumi stablecoin», that HanyPay had begun onboarding for its Payments API in 2024 but «the process was never completed», and that what existed was «a standard API access request, not a partnership»; a February 2025 press release announcing an integration is described as false and unauthorised. Yellow Card also notes that it has a subsidiary, Yellow Card Ghana Limited, incorporated in 2020 and registered with Ghana's Financial Intelligence Centre and Data Protection Commission. General Counsel Craig Stoehr: «It is most unfortunate that the Bank of Ghana determined to publish this notice, as Yellow Card Ghana clearly communicated the above-mentioned facts… well in advance». ⚠️ WHAT WE RECORD AND WHAT WE DO NOT DECIDE. This entry does not say that Yellow Card operated without a licence: on that merit there is a central bank asserting and a company denying, and the registry is not a judge. What is an established fact, with a date, a number and a signature, is the ACT: a central bank publicly asked the country's financial institutions and its citizens not to do business with the group. That is the effect that can reach a person's account — a Ghanaian bank refusing a transfer, a payment that does not go through — and that is why it is on the card. WHY IT STAYS OPEN. We found no withdrawal of the notice, no Ghanaian licence obtained afterwards, no correction from the Bank: as of 2 October 2026 the measure is still published on the Bank of Ghana's website. It is not, however, an «ongoing» fact in the monitor's sense: nothing is happening right now, it is a standing measure. To be read alongside one more element that changes its practical reach a great deal: since January 2026 Yellow Card has shut its retail offering to focus on the enterprise segment, so the pool of people who can run into this problem today is far smaller than it was in 2025.

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verified on Oct 2, 2026