She said the digital economy presented to government the opportunity to leapfrog the country’s development, create jobs for citizens and initiate economic recovery and growth for the country.

“I believe that even with our challenging circumstances (prevailing macroeconomic challenges) as a country, the digital economy is a strong foundation on which we can build back stronger and better.

“I believe that this era presents us with the greatest opportunity to leapfrog our development, drive change for our people, create jobs for our youth, initiate economic recovery and growth and bring hope to our people,” she stated at the second edition of Standard Chartered Bank’s Digital Banking, Innovation and Fintech Festival.

It was held on the theme: ‘Powering Africa’s Digital Economy: Platforms; Players; Policy’.

More partnerships

The CEO also called for more partnerships and collaborations between fintechs, telcos and banks.

She said it was only through partnerships that the country could scale up and achieve its digitalisation and financial inclusion goal.

“A key milestone in Ghana has been the collaborative work between the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) and the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhiPSS) which led to the roll out of the innovative industry wallet called Ghana Pay. There are several other collaborations that have sprawned significant initiatives and innovations,” she said.

The Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari, for his part, said the ongoing sim-card registration exercise being championed by the National Communication Authority (NCA), would help curb the incidence of fraud, theft, money laundering and terrorism financing in the country’s digital financial system.

He said the exercise, which had the backing of the Bank of Ghana, would ensure the centralisation of Know Your Customer (KYC) data to boost delivery of financial services in the country.

Dr Opoku-Afari said the consumer should be at the centre of the industry’s collective efforts, adding that the central bank would not relent in its effort to protect them.

Forefront of innovation

Dr Opoku-Afari said the central bank had over the last few decades been at the forefront of innovation, laying the foundation for an effective and efficient retail payments ecosystem that was anchored on a robust interbank infrastructure.

He said a prominent mile marker was in 2003, when the Payment Systems Act 2003 (Act 662) was passed and set in motion the promotion of electronic payments in the country.

He pointed out that this law provided the mandate to establish the GhIPSS which, coupled with sustained investments in the interbank payments infrastructure, had proven to be a potent stimulant of retail payment innovation in the country.

“Observing developments eastward, the bank issued the Branchless Banking Guidelines to usher into Ghana, the mobile money concept. This guideline sought to anchor the emerging concept of mobile money on the resilience and safety of the banking sector.

“Further, and in line with the dictates of regulatory innovation development, the bank developed a policy framework in concert with industry and key stakeholders to introduce the Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) Guidelines,” he stated.