Gambia Orders Banks to Swap Foreign Staff by Year-End

The Gambia has told every bank in the country to replace its foreign bank staff with Gambians by 31 December 2026. The move is drawing pushback in Nigeria, home to four of the banks’ parent groups.

The Gambia is a small West African country of about 2.8 million people, almost surrounded by Senegal. Its banking market is small, but much of it belongs to foreign groups, above all from Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

The order came from the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG), the country’s banking regulator. It applies to all 11 licensed commercial banks and gives them about three months to finish the change.

What the order says

The directive is dated Wednesday 16 September 2026 and signed by Paul J. Mendy, the central bank’s second deputy governor. It was addressed to the managing directors of all banks, according to Nigerian outlets that saw the circular.

It followed a meeting between the regulator and bank chiefs on 27 August. The central bank said an industry study then found “a relatively high number of non-Gambians” employed in banks beyond recognised expatriate staff.

The regulator called this a breach of the Labour Act 2023 and of Guideline 9, its rule on foreign managers in banks. It told banks to adopt “a phased approach to replacing existing non-Gambian staff with suitably qualified Gambian nationals”.

Banks must name Gambian successors, train them and hand over skills and institutional knowledge. They must also make sure the transition does not disrupt services to customers.

Who is affected

The order covers every licensed bank, not only foreign-owned ones. Four of the 11 are subsidiaries of Nigerian groups: Access Bank, First Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) and Zenith Bank.

Ecobank Gambia, part of a pan-African group headquartered in Lomé, Togo, is also covered. The central bank has not named any bank as a specific offender, and none has published a response.

The number of foreign bank staff involved is not public. The central bank has not released the industry study that triggered the order.

The exemption question

Early reports by Punch, a Lagos daily, and others said the order targets only foreign staff outside approved expatriate quotas. Under Gambian law, such quotas allow foreigners into jobs where local skills are rare.

The circular’s quoted wording is stricter: it speaks of replacing “existing non-Gambian staff” and spells out no exemptions. Proshare, a Nigerian financial research firm, said banks still need clarity on scarce-skill posts.

The Labour Act sets fines of at least 500,000 dalasi (about US$6,700) for employing a foreigner without quota clearance, according to Kolawole’s reading of the law. That conversion uses 74.39 dalasi per US dollar, the closing rate on 2 October 2026.

Why Nigeria is pushing back

In a ThisDay column on 4 October, commentator Simon Kolawole called the directive a “blank cheque”. He argued that Guideline 9 deals only with boards and senior management, not all staff.

Kolawole also cited Section 177 of the Labour Act, which bars discrimination against lawful migrant workers on grounds of nationality. He wrote that the Central Bank of Nigeria has asked parent banks for “a detailed action plan and timeline for achieving compliance”.

The Nigerian central bank has not published that letter, so this point rests on Kolawole’s account. Banking analysts quoted by Punch on 25 September warned of higher costs and weaker capacity in treasury, risk, compliance and cybersecurity.

“If qualified local replacements are unavailable, forcing rapid replacement may weaken operational capacity,” said Ike Ibeabuchi, an emerging markets analyst. A Gambian commentator, Alpha Bah, asked why Africans demand free movement abroad while restricting fellow Africans at home.

Regional free movement

Nigeria and The Gambia both belong to ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States. Its free-movement rules let citizens of member states live and seek work across the bloc, subject to national laws.

Critics say the order sits uneasily with that promise. The central bank presents it as enforcement of existing labour law, not a new restriction.

The wider economy

The order lands in a calm monetary setting. On 20 August the central bank held its main policy rate at 14 per cent. It had cut the rate from 16 per cent in February.

Headline inflation eased to 7.6 per cent in July, the central bank said, but it flagged risks including “election-related uncertainty”. The Gambia holds a presidential election in December, the same month as the banks’ deadline.

Its next rate meeting is set for 25 and 26 November. By then, banks should have shown how they plan to meet the year-end target.

What is not known

The central bank has not said how many foreign bank staff work in the country, or what sanction follows a missed deadline. It has not clarified whether approved expatriate posts are protected.

Nor is it clear whether Nigeria will raise the matter through ECOWAS or direct talks. Banks have until 31 December, 88 days from 4 October, to comply.

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