The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari, says the regulatory environment for fintech has been revamped to ensure a more competitive and innovative industry.

Speaking at the second edition of the Mobile Technology for Development Conference 2021, the Deputy Governor said this has better positioned the fintech industry to serve the diverse digital financial services needs of individuals, businesses, and government in a competitive environment.

Dr. Opoku-Afari said the Bank of Ghana has been implementing programmes to transform the banking and payments system landscape from one dominated by cash to a cash-lite environment.

He noted that the central bank has been working with stakeholders to put in place critical interbank payments infrastructure to serve as the core of an integrated and interoperable electronic payments environment.

“Once this core infrastructure has been put in place, it can be leveraged to stretch the boundaries of an efficient payments systems agenda. It becomes the base hub where innovation and growth in the fintech landscape could be explored.”

He added: “Obviously, the more than 17 million active mobile money accounts provide ample evidence of the increasing adoption of digital payments and provide a fertile ground for businesses to explore digital channels to interact with customers.”

However, in spite of the tremendous achievements towards building a financially inclusive society through digitisation, the Deputy Governor said the COVID-19 containment measures put in place at the height of the pandemic by the government highlighted the digitisation gap and brought to fore the extent to which this gap could be exploited by businesses for economic efficiency and growth.

“The inability of businesses to incorporate and embrace digitalisation in their business models will undoubtedly create a void, with dire consequences for the survivability of businesses during a post-pandemic pandemic.”