a.i. A customer of a bank is any person or entity who maintains an account with the bank or utilizes its services, as established in common law (e.g., Foley v. Hill) and Ghanaian practice. Under Act 930, it includes individuals, companies, or groups with a contractual relationship, like depositing funds or borrowing. In daily operations at Stanbic Bank Ghana, opening an account with KYC under AML laws confirms customer status.

ii. The basic relationship is that of debtor and creditor: the bank is the debtor for credit balances (customer lends to bank), and creditor for overdrafts (bank lends to customer). It’s contractual, with implied duties like secrecy (Tournier v. National Provincial Bank principles, adopted in Ghana) and care in payments. Post-2019, BoG’s Customer Protection Directive enhances this with fairness, as in digital banking under Act 987.

b. Banks have the following rights over customer accounts:

• Right of Lien: General lien over securities for debts (not on current accounts unless agreed).
• Right of Set-Off: Combine accounts to offset debts, per Clayton’s Case (first in, first out), subject to notice.
• Right to Charge Fees/Interest: For services or overdrafts, as per contract.
• Right to Close Account: With reasonable notice, unless misconduct.
• Right to Disclosure: Limited, e.g., under court order or BoG for AML.

In practice, during DDEP, banks exercised set-off rights on defaulted loans, complying with BoG’s risk guidelines.