ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
It is an honour to have you join us today as we commence this important Consumer Reporting Officers and Stakeholder Engagement programme, organized by the Bank of Ghana 2.
I am particularly honoured to deliver the keynote address for this stakeholder engagement and extend a warm welcome to all participants.
I am confident that today’s engagement will be fruitful, impactful and enlightening.
Your presence reflects your dedication to collaborative efforts and commitment to protecting the consumers we serve.
The theme for today’s engagement “Excellence in Service, Innovation in Delivery, Security in Practice” resonates with the core priorities that regulators and financial service providers must continually focus on, especially in our rapidly evolving banking ecosystem.
Excellence in Service ought not to only be seen from the perspective of competitive advantage; it should rather be the minimum expectation.
Consumers expect timely responses, fairness in resolution and professional care in how their grievances are received and addressed.
I n this regard, the role of Consumer Reporting Officers is paramount.
Regulated Institutions are the first point of contact for customers and when trust is broken, and public confidence wanes, customers are left without adequate protection, making them vulnerable.
At the Bank of Ghana, we are constantly strengthening our regulatory framework and tools to safeguard consumer protection, including systems to monitor complaint resolution across all regulated institutions as imbedded in the Consumer Recourse Mechanism Guidelines.
In recent times there has been growing demand to review the Consumer Recourse Mechanism to address emerging gaps in its application.
A notable concern is the increasing number of complainants seeking ancillary remedies, if for nothing when you consider the time value of money .
However, the absence of explicit provisions for compensation within the current legal and regulatory frameworks presents a significant constraint.
This limitation narrows the scope of redress available, even in instances where such remedies may be justified.
The Bank of Ghana is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the Consumer Recourse Mechanism to address the gaps that have been identified.
As part of this process, we will be reaching out to the industry players for input prior to finalizing the revised framework.
The number of complaints escalated to the Bank of Ghana rose from 695 in 2023 to 743 in 2024 reflecting a 6 .9% year-on-year increase in reported cases.
While the nature of complaints has grown increasingly complex, the Bank of Ghana continues to receive routine grievances that ideally should not be escalated.
This trend appears to stem from a lack of confidence in the resolution capabilities of the commercial banks which ought to serve as the initial point of contact for such matters.
While protecting the three channels of complaint redress [the in stitution, BOG, Law Court], we urge you, the Consumer Reporting Officers, to strengthen your commitment to the vital roles you play in ensuring effective complaint redress at the institutional level.
We are confident that this initiative will strengthen consumer trust in commercial banks and foster financial inclusion.
A comprehensive review of the complaints escalated to the Bank of Ghana over the years reveals persistent concerns regarding weak corporate governance, limited transparency, insufficient disclosure of product and service terms, and inadequate accountabilit y frameworks within regulated financial institutions.
There must therefore be the implementation of a multi -pronged strategy focused on strengthening governance, transparency and consumer protection.
The true measure of success , however, lies not in policies written but in customer experience and how well our institutions internalize and act on these principles at the operational level.
Ladies and Gentlemen, e qually important is leveraging technology and innovation to improve efficiency, accessibility and customer experience.
Digital banking services have opened new frontiers for delivering services faster and more broadly, including the underserved populations.
In recent years, the Banking sector has undergone a significant transformation driven by digitalization.
Most banks have embraced innovative technologies to enhance convenience and accessibility for customers .
While we commend this progress and welcome the benefits of digital banking , we must remain vigilant about the inherent risks.
I am certain that we are all familiar with the key issues raised in the recently published Fraud Report.
The report indicates a 5% increase in reported fraud cases, rising from 15,865 in 2023 to 16,733 in 2024.
Financial losses associated with these fraudulent activities surged by 13% from GHS88million in 2023 to GHS99mil lion in 2024.
Of particular concern is the rise in staff involvement in fraudulent activities, which escalated by 33% from 274 cases in 2023 to 365 cases in 2024.
This alarming trend poses a significant threat to the integrity and resilience of our banking system and must be addressed decisively.
As Consumer Reporting Officers and Compliance Officers your role is critical in reversing this trajectory.
Through vigilance, adherence to ethical standards and proactive enforcement of internal controls, you can help safeguard public trust and strengthen the financial sector.
It is essential to implement robust, secure and reliable systems that effectively mitigate the risks associated with digitalization, thereby safeguarding both institutions and consumers.
The Bank of Ghana through its Fintech and Innovation Office, continues to promote responsible innovation within the banking sector, balancing opportunity with oversight.
Our Regulatory Sandbox, for instance, is designed to foster innovation in a safe and monitored environment, ensuring that emerging solutions uphold customer protection standards from the onboarding stage.
Let us now turn to what may be the most critical pillar of our theme, Security.
No amount of service excellence or technological advancement can compensate for a breach of trust.
In th is digital age, trust is built on the foundation of security of customer data, transactions and personal privacy.
Banks must embed cybersecurity not just in infrastructure but also as an institutional culture.
The rise i n cyber threats, phishing schemes and identity theft demand proactive and coordinated response from all stakeholders.
At the Bank of Ghana ’s level, we have implemented a Cyber and Information Security Directive to guide institutions in establishing effective safeguards.
Compliance is however only the beginning, security must become a daily practice, embedded in every interaction, system update and ne w product rollout.
Ladies and Gentlemen, to truly uphold the ideals of service excellence, innovative delivery and secure operations, collaboration is key.
Your role as Consumer Reporting Officers (CROs) is essential, but this cannot operate in isolation.
The Management of banks must offer support, and the Bank of Ghana must enhance its oversight.
Similarly, consumers themselves must be educated, empowered and engaged in protecting their interests.
In conclusion, Ladies and Gentlemen let me reiterate that the strength of our banking system lies not only in its profitability but also in its credibility.
How fairly and effectively it treats the people who depend on it.
Let this engagement serve not only as a forum for dialogue but as a springboard for action.
Let it inspire every institution represented here today to recommit to the core values of excellence, innovation and security.
The Bank of Ghana stands ready in its unwavering support to the banking industry and is committed to working together to build a resilient, trusted and responsive banking system.
Thank you all for your commitment and I look forward to the impactful discussions and positive outcomes that will emerge from this gathering.
God bless us all.
10TH ANNIVERSARY TECH INNOVATION CONFERENCE AWARDS ORGANISED BY MOBEX AFRICA KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY SECOND DEPUTY GOVERNOR, MADAM MATILDA ASANTE- ASIEDU, ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNOR, DR.
JOHNSON ASIAMA FINANCIAL INCLUSION THROUGH INNOVATION: DIGITAL CURRENCIES AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS THE KEMPINSKI HOTEL GOLD COAST CITY, ACCRA OCTOBER 2025 1 The Chairperson, Distinguished Guests, Honourable Central Bank Governors and Fellow Regulators, Esteemed Leaders and Representatives, Valued Development Partners, Innovators, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning to you all.
I bring you warm greetings from the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, who, due to a prior official engagement, is unable to join us in person this morning.
He has asked me to extend his appreciation to the organisers of this important forum and to convey his best wishes to all participants.
It is, therefore, my honour and privilege to present the keynote address on his behalf.
I want to start this morning with figure s that tell the story better than any slide ever could: A decade ago, Ghana’s mobile money ecosystem was still in its infancy.
By the end of 2015, just about 4.9 million active customers used mobile money, with total annual transaction value of about GHS266 million.
Fast forward to 2025, and the landscape has transformed remarkably.
Today, Mobile money has over 24 million users.
In 2024 alone, mobile money transactions reached GHS3.02 trillion — a 57 per cent increase from the previous year.
This means mobile money now accounts for half of Ghana’s formal payment flows, underscoring the fact that digital rails have become the country’s primary retail payment infrastructure, connecting households, merchants, and small businesses nationwide.
Why does that matter in this room?
Because we are no longer talking about mobile money as a novelty or an add-on.
Payments are not just going digital, they are digital.
And with that, the stakes go high: How do we scale the upside of this transformation by ensuring more access, more efficiency, more inclusion, while guarding against the downside of fraud, exclusion, instability?
2 Today, I want to walk you through the opportunity we see, how we’re harnessing these opportunities, the challenges that confront us, and how we partner in this journey.
Facts on the Ground As highlighted earlier, Ghana’s mobile money ecosystem continues to deepen, reflecting the growing trust and integration of digital payments in everyday life.
Beyond these impressive numbers, what truly stands out is the expanding range of mobile money use cases.
From simple P2P transfers and everyday purchases such as airtime top up and utility bills payments, to more sophisticated B2B transactions, mobile money has become an essential part of Ghana’s financial fabric.
This transformation highlights how interoperability and innovation continue to reshape the payments landscape, driving inclusion and advancing the national digitisation agenda.
But this goes beyond Ghana, Globally, Mobil -money accounts passed 2.1 billion in 2024 with 108 billion transaction counts worth nearly US D1.7 trillion.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains at the heart of this wave.
West Africa alone is driving upwards of a third of new accounts.
The message is clear, we are not just catching up, this region is leading.
On the payments infrastructure front, we are also seeing a continental leap.
The Pan African Payments & Settlement System (PAPSS) now links 150+ banks and several central banks, and plans are underway for an “African Currency Marketplace” to settle in loca l currencies and reduce reliance on foreign-exchange bridges.
This signals a shift from payments simply being digital to them being sovereign, inclusive, and cross-border.
Opportunity & Inclusion Gaps With the digital rails now laid, what new opportunities do they unlock, and what are the upside risks?
The opportunities are immense.
With billions of cedis flowing through electronic channels, Ghana now has the infrastructure to deliver financial services at a scale that seemed impossible just a decade ago.
Government-to- person payments can reach citizens faster and more transparently; small businesses can sell, save, and borrow across digital platforms; and private innovation can plug directly into public systems.
When digital channels 3 combine with mobile agents, feature phones, and offline modes, they create the possibility of genuine inclusion, where distance, literacy, or bandwidth are no longer barriers to access finance.
Yet these gains are not evenly shared.
According to the Alliance for Financial Inclusion formal account ownership among women in Ghana has nearly doubled over the past decade, but account usage remains patchy.
Having an account is not the same as using it confidently, safely, and productively.
For the underserved and the unbanked, the barriers are no longer technological but human and economic: trust in the system, clarity of redress, and the basics of transacting digitally.
Building for equity must therefore be intentional.
We must design digit al solutions mindful of gender and rural inclusion, offering access to those who live and trade outside the formal banking system.
That is how inclusion stops being a slogan and becomes a living reality.
BoG’s Inclusion-through-Innovation Agenda At the Bank of Ghana, we are steering a three -pronged agenda, grounded in practicality and evidence.
Payments rails & market conduct.
Our priority is to strengthen instant payment rails, ensure full interoperability across wallets and banks, raise agent -network quality and tighten the complaints framework.
As our FinTech Sector Report for 2024 shows mobile- money transactions value was GH S3.01 trillion.
Our focus is moving from “can we, do it?”
to “are we doing it right for everyone?”
eCedi as social innovation.
We have piloted the retail eCedi, Ghana’s Central Bank Digital Currency in offline and online modes, to ensure inclusive access.
The policy document emphasises, minimum disruption to the financial architecture, and the principle of equity: “where everyone, anywhere, has access.”
We are cautious: focusing on evidence led pilots, instead of hype led.
The path to full rollout will be based on proof of outcomes and operational readiness.
Lessons from Here and Abroad Around the world, central banks are walking a cautious but determined path toward digital currencies.
The Bank for International Settlements reports that about 91 per cent of central banks explored some form of CBDC in 2024.
The desire is real, but the tone is pragmatic.
Most jurisdictions are experimenting 4 with wholesale platforms or tightly targeted retail pilots, focusing less on hype and more on how to strengthen the payments infrastructure and policy efficiency.
Ghana’s own experience reflects this prudence.
Our eCedi pilots reaffirmed one critical truth: offline matters.
A currency that cannot move when the network drops is a currency that excludes the most vulnerable.
We designed and tested offline functionaliti es, making sure the eCedi can serve farmers, traders, and households in remote areas.
Privacy, tiered KYC, and merchant viability are the three pillars guiding our design.
Regulation, Trust, and Sovereignty No digital transformation survives without trust, and trust depends on rules.
Together with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Intelligence Centre , the Bank has completed a Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, now advancing to Parliament.
It introduces licensing, capital requirements, and strict AML/CFT provisions including the Travel Rule.
This is not regulation to stifle growth but rather to give innovation roots.
Risk-based innovation.
Innovation and inclusion should not compromise consumer protection or financial stability.
We are expanding our Regulatory Sandbox cohorts in areas such as agriculture-payments, remittances, credit-via-digital-rails, RegTech, and we are embedding cybersecu rity, AML/CFT readiness, and market - conduct expectations from the start.
This is to ensure we secure the new economy we are enabling.
Equally important is data protection.
Every transaction carries fragments of personal life, habits, patterns, sometimes vulnerabilities.
Ghana’s Data Protection Commission remains our moral compass.
For us, privacy -by- design is not a feature; it is the foundation.
Wallets, CBDCs, and payment systems must collect only the necessary data, store it securely, and always operate under explicit consent.
For us payment systems are critical infrastructure.
Every licensed institution must maintain cyber -security standards, conduct incident drills, report promptly when breaches occur, and guarantee redress when users are adversely affected.
This is how confid ence is earned in a digital financial system, through accountability.
5 The Hard Problems Despite these interventions fraud and social -engineering scams are fast evolving.
Protecting users demands smarter defaults, real -time transaction notifications, and industry-wide information sharing.
Affordability remains another sticky point.
Merchants and micro -businesses will only adopt digital payments if they are cheap, instant, and predictable.
Cross-border efficiency is the next frontier.
The Pan -African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS), together with the forthcoming African Currency Marketplace, will help us trade across borders in local currencies, cutting our dependence on hard -currency intermediaries and strengthening regional liquidity.
And finally, digital identity.
We need KYC systems that are portable across providers yet respect privacy and consent.
Inclusion must not come at the cost of surveillance.
The Partnership Imperative The journey ahead cannot be travelled alone.
Government must continue to ensure policy consistency, particularly on digital ID integration, data governance, and the migration of public -sector payments onto instant platforms.
For banks and payment service providers, the challenge is to price for scale rather than margin.
Transparency on fees, reliability of platforms, and genuine outreach to SMEs are what will deepen the digital economy.
Telecommunication companies and fintech innovators must design for real users, interfaces in local languages, intuitive voice menus, and built-in fraud awareness.
Consumers deserve recourse systems they can see and trust.
And our universities, researchers, and development partners must help us measure what works, testing inclusion models in the field and funding digital- literacy programs that don’t just raise awareness but change behaviour.
Closing Thank you to the MOBEX team for a decade of convening this community.
Let’s turn today’s conversations into pilots that work, partnerships that last, and a payments system that truly serves every Ghanaian.
God Bless.
OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES SENSITISATION PROGRAMME FOR SELECTED JUDGES OF THE JUDICIARY THEME: JUDICIAL SENSITISATION ON INSOLVENCY AND BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP LAWS KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY DR.
JOHNSON PANDIT ASIAMA GOVERNOR, BANK OF GHANA (GUEST SPEAKER) PEDUASE LODGE, ABURI 9 – 10 OCTOBER 2025 The Attorney General and Minister for Justice , Honourable Dr.
Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, Your Lordships and your ladyship, Registrar of Companies, Mrs.
Maame Samma Peprah, Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen.
OPENING Good morning.
I am truly honoured to be your Guest Speaker and to have been called upon to deliver the Keynote Address at this very important awareness training programme.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is delighted to be associated with this sensitisation programme on Corporate Insolvency, Liquidation Procedures, and Beneficial Ownership Laws, organised by the Office of the Registrar of Companies for selected Judges of the Judiciary.
RELEVANT LAWS The importance of the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring Act (CIRA), 2020 (Act 1015), particularly at a time like this, cannot be overemphasi sed.
The passage of Act 1015 marked a transformative development, introducing a modern framework for aiding financially distressed companies.
The Act outlines clear conditions for placing companies into administration and defines the key responsibilities of administrators, who work to stabilise companies, and restructuring officers, who develop recovery strategies.
Act 1015 therefore offers significant potential in addressing insolvency situations through effective debt workouts and other restructuring modes.
It is a crucial piece of legislation addressing corporate insolvency and restructuring in Ghana.
We believe that a resilient and robust corporate insolvency regime plays a critical role in strengthening Ghana’s corporate regulatory framework, which is an area in which the Bank of Ghana plays a vital role.
A strong regulatory framework ensures compliance, protects the public interest, and promotes fair practices across sectors, safeguarding not just financial institutions but the broader economy as well.
The Bank of Ghana’s statutory mandate is to: • Maintain price stability, • Promote economic growth, • Ensure the efficient operation of the banking and credit system, and • Promote financial stability.
In line with this mandate, the Bank recognises the value of a well -designed insolvency regime.
In addition to Act 1015, the Banks and Specialised Deposit -Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930), which serves as the primary legislation governing Ghana’s banking sector, provides for: • Prudential requirements, • Enforcement mechanisms, and • Early intervention through prompt corrective actions for distressed banks and Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions.
The Bank of Ghana takes insolvency seriously and works diligently, through its regulatory and supervisory roles, to prevent Regulated Financial Institutions (RFIs) and Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions from becoming insolvent.
Insolvency is defined as the inability of a bank or SDI to meet its obligations as they fall due, or a situation where its liabilities exceed its assets.
It goes beyond temporary illiquidity, indicating severe balance sheet mismatches and an inability to recover within a reasonable time.
COMMON CAUSES OF INSOLVENCY IN BANKS AND SDIs There are various causes that may lead a bank or financial institution into insolvency.
These include: • Creative accounting practices that misrepresent financial conditions, • Cash and asset suppression, • Insider dealings/related-party transactions exceeding statutory limits, • Weak board oversight and internal control override, • Non-compliance with BoG provisioning norms and failure to implement on -site recommendations, • Non-existent paid-up capital or investments in SEC-regulated institutions, • Inadequate capital to sustain operations, • High management fees paid to related parties, • Excessive risk-taking without proper risk management, • Poor investment decisions and lack of due diligence, • Misuse of depositors’ funds for long -term expenditures, causing asset -liability mismatches, • Poor credit underwriting standards leading to toxic assets (e.g., non -performing loans, unrecoverable placements, etc.
), and • Use of depositors’ funds to finance related-party projects.
FACTORS THAT TRIGGER REGULATORY INTERVENTION A primary objective of the Bank of Ghana is to promote the safety and soundness of the operations of financial institutions through effective regulation and supervision.
This includes corporate restructuring to support banks and SDIs in financial difficult ies, with the aim of minimi sing financial risk, improving business performance to reduce debt, improving efficiency and restoring profitability.
However, it is imperative that weak banks or financial institutions that have the potential to create financial instability are handled properly to ensure the safety and soundness of the financial system.
Sections 107 and 123 of Act 930 therefore mandate t he Bank of Ghana to put a failed or failing bank or SDI through the resolution process.
Resolution occurs upon a determination by the Bank of Ghana that there is no feasible intervention that could restore the failed or failing institution to viability within a short timeframe.
The process may commence with either the appointment of a Receiver or an Official Administrator and the subsequent appointment of a Receiver, based on the outcome of the Official Administration.