Elsie Addo Awadzi
SOME 17.5 MILLION active mobile money accounts in Ghana recorded GH¢571.8 billion ($99.67 billion) in mobile money transactions in 2020 alone, representing 84% growth from the value recorded in 2019.
This was made possible with the help of some 344,000 active mobile money agents as at December 2020.
Elsie Addo Awadzi, 2nd Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, disclosed this at a virtual regional workshop organised by the International Monetary Fund’s AFRITAC West 2. It was on the theme, “Building Fintech Resilience and Supervisory Capacity In West Africa”.
According to the Deputy Governor, in spite of the foregoing development in Ghana and other parts of the world, there was the need for a coordinated approach to developing an orderly digital financial services ecosystem with innovations to better support the real sector on a sustainable basis.
“Such a coordinated approach will help various players in the ecosystem namely policymakers, regulators, financial services providers, financial technology providers (FinTechs) and so-called BigTechs (such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook, to name a few) and consumers – to work together to harness the benefits of technology for the financial system while keeping risks to financial stability and financial integrity in check. Indeed, this is a key recommendation of the Bali FinTech Agenda launched by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 2018.”
She indicated that this has become necessary because the widespread use of technology was also making financial services even riskier. “Increased mobile money and ATM fraud and other cyber and AML/CFT risks could lead to service delivery disruptions and operational and financial losses as well as reputational damage for service providers, while leading to losses for users of these services and a loss of confidence in the financial system.
“These could erode gains made in financial stability, financial integrity, and financial inclusion in many countries,” she warned.
Ms Awadzi continued that the regulation and supervision of the digital financial services ecosystem was complex, given the multiple players in that space and the fast pace of technology-driven disruption to traditional models of banking and other financial services.
“Particularly, regulators all over the world are grappling with the best approaches to effectively regulate and supervise FinTechs in a manner that is consistent with multiple policy objectives (such as financial stability, financial integrity, consumer protection, and effective competition) without stifling the necessary innovation that FinTechs often bring. What is more, the boundaries around permissible activities of FinTechs are fast becoming blurred for example as payment solutions very easily transition into full-fledged financial services,” she added.
BY Samuel Boadi