Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IT Consortium, Romeo Bugyei, has called for partnership between Fintech companies operating in Ghana and financial companies in order to ensure growth.
Speaking at the first annual African Fintech conference held recently in Accra, he said enabled fintech companies should enter into smarter partnerships in a fast-moving industry that is ripe for consolidation in Ghana and the rest of the continent.
Fintech companies are platforms where people are allowed to use mobile phones and other technologies to move money across without necessarily going to the bank to transact businesses.
“Fintech companies can’t work independently. The sector is gaining grounds in Ghana and has the potential to get even better if players come together to explore the fertile areas,” Mr Bugyei noted.
Themed: ‘Mapping the African Fintech Landscape,’ the conference was aimed at creating awareness among the African fintech ecosystem and allowing collaboration for smarter partnerships that drive the speedy fintech innovation on the continent.
He further called on government to allow fintech companies to grow and not be regulated now.
For now, the Central Bank is aware of the operation of fintech companies and also controls their activities.
“We should be allowed to innovate,” he said, adding that “I believe in allowing the market to grow,” Mr Bugyei.
He said if the African market is open to all, the platform could be cheaper, because the number of merchants for these companies will be bigger and so the charges for accessing their service will automatically be cheaper.”
“The other African countries should open their doors. The more we are allowed to operate in the other countries, the cheaper it will be,” he said.
Deputy Project Manager of the Financial Inclusion on Business Runaway (FIBR) project, co-host of the programme, David del Ser, said regulators need new ways and skills, systems and approaches to regulate the industry.
A business desk report