This paper is part of a research project looking into 'Financial Integration and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa'. Focussing on Ghana's financial system, this paper first analyses the structure of the assets of the banking system, mainly looking for structural differences in the differnet types of institutions and the impact of these on their operations. It goes on to analyse the assets of the banking system, focusing on the term structures and other conditions for credit allocation to differnet groups of borrowers.

Credit can be harder to come by for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and this paper suggests there is systemic discrimination in the allocation of credit which is not based on any comprehensive analysis of creditworthiness. There is further assesment of both the process of portfolio choice and relationships between formal units of the financial market and those that can be described as informal.