The Minister for Communication, Technology, and Innovation, Sam George, has disclosed plans for the consideration of a framework that would allow mutual recognition of fintech and payment service licences between Ghana and Zambia to ease cross-border business operations.

He explained that the current system forces companies already licensed under one regulatory regime to repeat the entire approval process when entering another market, despite operating under similar standards.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, April 20, Mr George said this creates unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks that slow down private sector expansion and cross-border innovation.

“The Bank of Zambia fintech policy was modelled and structured with technical expertise from the Bank of Ghana. So, if a company in Zambia, using those benchmarks that have been created, goes through the rigorous process of getting a PSP licence, must that company come to Ghana and start afresh from the beginning again? he questioned.

According to him, the goal is to allow companies that have successfully obtained licences in either Ghana or Zambia to operate across both jurisdictions without restarting the entire licensing process.

Mr George stressed that the proposed alignment would significantly improve the ease of doing business, reduce administrative delays, and strengthen fintech collaboration between the two countries.