ba es o f gh a na nk t. 1 9 5 7 goodwill message delivered by the first deputy governor, dr maxwell opoku - afari at the launch of the 20th anniversary celebration of it consortium ghana limited 23rd april 2021 with a high sense of pride and appreciation, i extend my warm congratulations and best wishes to it consortium ghana limited on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of its foundation. twenty years in the life of a fintech in any part of the world is no mean achievement. it becomes even more significant when placed in the context of a developing country, and truly this achievement is monumental for both it consortium and ghana. a trip down memory lane to 2001, bank of ghana had commenced in earnest implementation of interbank payment infrastructures aimed at modernising the banking sector and guided by a strategy that is focused on banks. in an era when the word “ fintech ” was alien to the library of finance vocabulary and the thought of technology companies providing financial services would have been considered sacrilegious, it consortium was established. with unusual appreciation of bank of ghana ’ s direction of financial sector development, it consortium has competently supported the digital transformation agenda of the ghanaian financial services industry with digital solutions relevant to our developmental needs. a stellar example is the chango crowdfunding product, the first of its kind by a licensed institution in ghana, introduced to improve on the traditional “ susu ” model for raising funds among a group of persons. it consortium ’ s commitment to the norms of the financial services industry over the years has been commendable. at a time when the regulatory regime did not recognise fintechs, key management personnel of the company frequently interacted with officials of bank of ghana on regulatory issues. it is no wonder then, that it consortium is one of the first few fintechs to be licensed by the bank of ghana as an enhanced payment service provider. remarkably, as a wholly - owned ghanaian company and staffed by persons trained and worked in ghana, the company has demonstrated fidelity to the digital transformation agenda of the ghanaian economy. its contribution to the conceptualisation, designing and implementation of the flagship ghana. gov platform which is at the core of the digital economy project is laudable. indeed, the successes of the company in the ghanaian digital financial services ecosystem signifies the capacity of the ghanaian to deal with the challenges confronting us as a country. recently, i had the privilege of gracing the inauguration of the new office premises of it consortium. the beautiful ed

”. the resultant combination of reckless lending and unsophisticated borrowing, which started in the usa ended up engulfing large parts of the financial world. a need for change against this background i attended the annual meetings of the international monetary fund ( imf ) and the world bank last week. these institutions were created at the end of the second world war to fill a much needed gap of providing capital in the global financial system, as well as ensuring the orderly functioning of the system. the imf was, inter alia, created to provide financial support to countries that may be experiencing short term balance of payments problems, while the world bank was established to assist countries, in particular european countries, in their post war reconstruction efforts. over time, the size and the needs of the membership of these institutions have changed. these institutions have, however, not kept pace with the changing conditions in their operating environment. the governance and representation structures have lagged behind the changing global economic realities. the imf has not fully lived up to one of its core responsibilities, being the conduct of effective surveillance of the global economic environment and that of individual countries. the relevance of the bretton woods institutions, as the imf and the world bank have become to be known, has come under severe scrutiny, particularly over that last ten years in the aftermath of the asian crises. questioning the relevance of the imf has intensified in the wake of the current crisis. a key area of criticism has been the failure of the imf to warn its members of the outbreak of financial crises in a timely manner. the imf and indeed other global financial institutions are in serious need of change. a need for collective action we need collective global action to overcome the current crisis. the imf was established to promote coordination and collective action in order to avoid the kind of crisis we are now facing. we all saw the dangers building up over the last few years, particularly with regard to global imbalances. these problems have for many years been discussed within the international monetary and financial committee ( imfc ). but this common knowledge was not enough to spur any determined action. global policy makers were not able to act in unison, and the institutions tasked with facilitating a collective response could not or would not act in accordance with their mandates. this failure on the part of the global economic policymakers needs to be recognised, and as we acknowledge this failure, we must recommit ourselves to deeper multilateral cooperation, mutual accountability and active