Ghana’s central bank governor Johnson Asiama has noted that Ghana’s financial sector is at the threshold of transitioning into an innovation-led financial sector.
Asiama said during the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Association of Banks on Thursday that through hard work, tighter liquidity control, gold monetization, and transparent rules-based monetary policy, the country has restored credibility in its financial sector, resulting in stability.
“But stability is not the destination. It is the launchpad. The true measure of central banking success is not only how we maintain stability, but also how we transform that stability into a platform for innovation, inclusion, and growth,” the governor said.
Every generation of bankers faces a turning point. For us, this is it. The business of banking is being reshaped, not just by regulation, but by technology, changing customers, and emerging forms of risk, added the governor.
To him, digital banking is no longer an add-on to banking; “it is banking,” as artificial intelligence (AI), tokenization, and open APIs are changing how institutions manage credit, compliance, and fraud, while consent-based digital identity, programmable payments, and interoperable cloud-based systems are becoming the bedrock of financial services.
With these developments, Asiama highlighted the emergence of cyber resilience and third-party risk management now as critical as capital adequacy, “and operational soundness is increasingly measured by how well banks secure and govern their technology environments.”
To ensure safety amid the rapid growth of technology in the banking sector, the governor outlined the central bank’s four-pillar strategy for driving responsible financial sector innovation, including infrastructure innovation to enhance instant payments and national QR systems to support multi-currency interoperability, including the introduction of the country’s electronic currency (e-cedi).
Moreover, he said the central bank is also modernizing its regulation methods, with its sandbox testing over 20 financial technology (fintech) solutions—from cross-border remittances to digital micro-insurance—while deepening financial intermediation and connecting innovation to real economic value.
Finally, he said the Bank of Ghana is investing in risk and trust innovation because innovation must be underpinned by stronger risk and cyber resilience. “The Bank is investing in AI-driven supervisory tools and operationalizing a cyber-threat intelligence platform to share information between banks and fintechs.”