The 2024 National Forum on Digital Finance and Inclusion, held in Accra on May 30th, 2024, convened policymakers, bankers, and fintech innovators to explore strategies for advancing inclusive finance across Africa.

Among the featured contributors was Benjamin Asamoah, a Senior Digital Financial Services and Regulatory Technology Expert, who joined the forum virtually from Boston, USA, to share his expertise on the theme “Banking Without Borders: Leveraging Electronic Payments to Drive Financial Inclusion.”

In his interview and presentation, Mr. Asamoah emphasized that the evolution of financial inclusion now hinges on digital participation. “Access alone is not inclusion,” he stated. “We must ensure that technology, regulation, and trust combine to create a seamless and borderless digital economy.”

Referencing World Bank data, he noted that Sub-Saharan Africa’s electronic transactions have grown by over 25% annually between 2020 and 2023, underscoring the region’s readiness for interoperable systems that promote real time, cross border commerce.

Asamoah further discussed how frameworks such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the ISO 20022 standard can enhance cross-border interoperability. “These frameworks make it possible for a trader in Ghana to receive payments instantly from customers across Africa without relying on exclusionary correspondent networks,” he said.

He emphasized the strategic relevance of advanced Regulatory Technology (RegTech) solutions in building a secure, transparent, and future-ready digital financial ecosystem. Asamoah explained that modern compliance tools such as AI-driven fraud detection systems, machine-learning transaction monitoring, and real-time risk analytics are no longer optional add-ons but critical infrastructure for the digital economy.

He outlined how automated compliance frameworks capable of interpreting regulatory updates instantly can help financial institutions maintain alignment with evolving policies while reducing operational overhead. In his view, digital identity verification mechanisms anchored in biometric authentication and tiered KYC protocols are fundamental to safeguarding consumer trust and enabling interoperability across payment platforms.

Among the proposals that drew attention at the forum was his call for a unified supervisory data exchange platform to strengthen collaboration between regulators and payment service providers. Such a system, he noted, would allow regulators to anticipate emerging risks and act proactively rather than reactively.

In the post-event communiqué, the National Digital Finance Steering Committee confirmed that key recommendations from Asamoah’s presentation, particularly those on compliance automation, digital identity frameworks, and interoperability governance are being adopted into Ghana’s upcoming Digital Payments Policy Framework. The Committee described these inputs as timely and transformative, aligning with the country’s long-term goal of achieving a secure, data driven, and inclusive financial ecosystem.