enabling regulatory regime for digital payments. 11. for all intents and purposes, the act seeks to promote innovation in the design and delivery of payment products and services by widening the scope of the payments industry to fintechs and engendering competition. it is expected that fintechs ’ innovations will deliver products that meet the needs of all stakeholders, whether banked or unbanked and underserved, to attract them into the digital payment space. also, a proportionate regulatory regime has been adopted to promote fairness in regulation and accommodate different payment service providers. 12. the quest for cashless payments is gradually shifting consumer interfaces from the manual environment to cyber space. alongside this transition, there has also been an increased spate of complex cyber security threats which is posing risks to the cashless agenda. the bank of ghana has therefore issued a cyber - security directive for compliance by banks and payment service providers to build a robust and resilient digital ecosystem. to further accelerate the digitisation process, stakeholders must work collectively to promote merchant acceptance of digitised financial products and services, with particular emphasis on lowertier merchants, such as small and micro - enterprises. 13. the next key area is enhancing public confidence. despite the successes achieved so far, some consumers still lack awareness and confidence in electronic payments. in this direction, the various stakeholders are undertaking continued consumer education and financial literacy to build confidence and help in fraud reduction. ghipss and stakeholders in the payment industry are also building a fund to support consumer education. also, on a regular basis, payment service providers are educating the public on how to avoid scams in the use of the newly deployed payment products and services. 14. the bank of ghana is fully committed to the cash - lite agenda which ties in with the government of ghana ’ s digital economy agenda. so far, we have seen the introduction of the biometric national identification system and the digital addressing system which are all supportive of our quest to drive digitised financial transactions. as the central bank, we will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of these initiatives. of course, there will be challenges, but with firm commitment, we will eventually reduce the dominance of cash in transactions and improve the efficiency and security of payments for a more inclusive society. 15. to conclude, let me note that the future of banking services is digitisation and it brings opportunities as well as challenges. we can harness digitisation to promote transactional efficiency in the delivery of financial

a later stage. the results of the assessment will be published once finished and prior to the ecb assuming its supervisory role. the ecb will manage and oversee the exercise in close cooperation with the national authorities and with the support of an international consultancy firm. the national authorities will conduct the exercise at the national level, on the basis of data requirements and centrally developed methodology, and may ask for the support of third parties if they deem it necessary. to ensure consistency in execution across banks and countries, quality assurance processes will be in place at every stage. it is in the interest of all that this exercise be rigorous and transparent, so as to fully restore confidence in the european banking sector. bis central bankers ’ speeches conclusions we have in front of us a year “ fully loaded ” – to use the jargon we all use in connection with of the regulatory basel framework. the european union is trying to make a big step forward and we will need the intelligence and best cooperation of all for this great design to be carried out. thanks again to the official monetary and financial institutions forum and to his chairman, david marsh, and to all the participants. i wish all of our visitors a very good stay in madrid. bis central bankers ’ speeches