How Do You Buy Treasury Bills in Ghana?
Through a bank branch or bank app, a broker, or a mobile-money route — with a valid ID and, depending on the channel, a bank account. Entry starts from about ₵100 in practice, and your bid goes into the weekly auction. Here is every channel compared, what each actually requires, and the parts nobody explains: the CSD account, and the four maturity instructions you sign up to at purchase.
Channels
compared below
BoG minimum
institutions set their own
Auction
bid in, Friday auction, Monday issue
91-day now
auction 2026-07-20
This is an educational calculator, not financial advice. Rates shown are the Bank of Ghana's published weekly auction results (source: bog.gov.gh) and change every week. The rate your bank executes may differ slightly, and banks may apply their own minimums or charges. Tax treatment shown reflects the statutory position for resident individuals — confirm your own situation with the GRA or your bank. Past rates do not predict future rates. accra.cool is not a licensed investment advisor and does not recommend any investment, tenor, or institution. Verify current rates at bog.gov.gh before investing.
Every channel, compared
Minimums move and differ by institution, so each carries a confidence badge. We compare the facts; which channel suits you is your call, and we name no institution as better than another.
| Channel | Minimum | You need | Digital |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank branchBid goes into the next weekly auction | ₵500about ₵500–1,000, varies by bankindicative | A bank account and valid photo ID | In person |
| Bank mobile appInstant once the CSD account exists | —set by the bankindicative | A CSD account registered at a branch first, then the bank app | Fully digital |
| Broker / investment houseAccount opens in about 3 working days | ₵500₵500 at Databankverified | Two passport photographs and valid ID — passport, driver's licence, Voter's ID or SSNIT card. Forms completed in branch or emailed to you. | Part digital |
| Mobile moneyInstant | ₵100about ₵100 in practiceindicative | A mobile money account | Fully digital |
| Primary dealer, directBids at the auction directly | ₵50,000practically ₵50,000 and aboveindicative | A dealer relationship | In person |
Every minimum is indicative unless badged otherwise — confirm with the institution before you plan around it.
Step by step, per channel
Bank branch
The default path. Universal banks — GCB, Ecobank, Absa, Stanbic, Standard Chartered, Fidelity, CalBank and others — take your instruction and submit the bid on your behalf.
Bank mobile app
The step that surprises people: you generally cannot start in the app. Register the CSD account at a branch, after which buying, rediscounting and liquidating can be done in-app. Fidelity's app, for example, supports the full lifecycle at no purchase fee.
Broker / investment house
No bank account required. Databank publishes this process and minimum on its own site. Brokers also serve Ghanaians abroad, with forms handled by email.
Mobile money
A MoMo-based route exists and is the lowest practical entry point. Availability and the exact product change — confirm it is currently offered before planning around it.
Primary dealer, direct
The institutional route. Dealers bid competitively or non-competitively at the auction; this is not a retail channel.
The CSD account, explained
Underneath every channel sits the same piece of plumbing, and almost nobody explains it. When you buy a treasury bill you do not receive a certificate; you receive an entry in the Central Securities Depository, the electronic register of government securities. Your bank or broker opens that CSD account for you and holds the relationship, but the holding itself is recorded in the depository.
Two practical consequences follow. The first is the question people keep asking — why can I not just buy from the app? Because the CSD account normally has to be registered in person at a branch before the app can transact against it. Once that one visit is done, the app can handle the rest. The second is reassurance: because the register is separate from the institution that sold you the bill, your holding is recorded independently of it.
The four maturity instructions
At purchase you choose what happens when the bill matures. Every buyer signs one of these; very few are told what the initials mean. These are the terms as Databank publishes them.
| Instruction | Your principal | Your interest |
|---|---|---|
| Rollover | Reinvested | Reinvested too — the balance compounds |
| PIM — Pay Interest on Maturity | Reinvested | Paid out to you |
| TIM — Transfer Interest on Maturity | Reinvested | Transferred to your account |
| Refund | Returned | Returned — the position closes |
Changing your instruction generally needs about seven working days' notice before the maturity date, so decide before you are inside that window. If you want the interest as income while keeping the capital working, PIM and TIM are the two that do that; Rollover is the one that compounds. Our income-target tool shows what principal a given payout needs.
Getting out early
You are not strictly locked in. A bill can be rediscounted — sold back before maturity — through your bank, broker or, where supported, in the app, and some apps allow a partial rediscount so you can take out only what you need. The cost is that you give up part of the return you would have earned by holding to maturity, and the earlier you exit the more of it you give up.
The sensible way to treat this is not as a safety valve you plan to use, but as one you hope not to. Match the tenor to when you actually expect to need the money, and the question never arises. That is what the tenor pages are for — the 5.78% on the 91-day exists precisely because short money is worth less than money you can commit for a year.
Buying from abroad
Ghana treasury bills are open to citizens, to foreign residents, and to Ghanaians living abroad. The practical route for someone outside the country is a broker: Databank, for instance, will email the account-opening forms rather than requiring a branch visit, and the account opens in about three working days once the ID and photographs are returned.
One fact matters more than any other for a diaspora holder, and it is not about the bill. Treasury bills pay in cedis. If your money starts and ends in dollars or pounds, your actual return is the rate on the bill combined with whatever the exchange rate does over the holding period — which can add to the return or erase it. We are not going to predict the currency; we do publish the live rate and its recent history, which is the honest input to that decision.
What it costs to buy
Buying is typically free. Databank states no charge on purchase, and bank apps that carry treasury bills generally advertise the same. The costs that do exist sit elsewhere: rediscounting before maturity carries a cost in forgone return, and some dealer or custody arrangements carry their own fees. Ask the institution to state its charges in writing before you commit — a purchase that is free to make is not automatically free to exit.
Common questions
- Yes, but usually not from a standing start. Bank apps that support treasury bills — Fidelity's among them — let you buy, rediscount and liquidate in-app, and typically charge nothing to purchase. The catch is that you generally need a CSD account registered at a branch first. Once that exists, the whole lifecycle can run from the phone. A mobile-money route also exists and is the lowest practical entry point, though availability changes, so confirm it is currently offered.
Have a question we should answer? Email hello@accra.cool.
This is an educational calculator, not financial advice. Rates shown are the Bank of Ghana's published weekly auction results (source: bog.gov.gh) and change every week. The rate your bank executes may differ slightly, and banks may apply their own minimums or charges. Tax treatment shown reflects the statutory position for resident individuals — confirm your own situation with the GRA or your bank. Past rates do not predict future rates. accra.cool is not a licensed investment advisor and does not recommend any investment, tenor, or institution. Verify current rates at bog.gov.gh before investing.
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