According to the Overseas Development Institute, the banking sector in Ghana is made up of the central bank, eight commercial banks, three development banks, three merchant banks and 133 rural banks. With the exception of the rural banks, their distribution is weighted towards urban areas, and towards the south. Seven out of the thirteen districts in the Northern Region have no banks and the ratio of clients to banks in northern Ghana is much higher (100,000:1) than in the country as a whole (16,000-26,000:1).