system. these digitization processes will ultimately improve ghana ’ s business environment. 6. the bank of ghana recognizes the importance of the role digital innovations play in creating a financially inclusive economy. consequently, the government through bank of ghana is collaborating with stakeholders including telecommunication companies and fintechs to digitize the financial landscape and deepen financial inclusion. 7. leveraging on mobile phone technology, ghana made significant progress in improving financial inclusion. with the fastest growing market in africa with an estimated voice subscriptions rising by 60. 0 percent ( 25. 6 million ) to ( 40. 9 million ) between 2012 and 2018, mobile money accounts have also increased over nine - fold reaching 32. 6 million from about 345, 000 over the same period. at the end of 2018, active mobile money accounts were estimated at 13. 1 million accounts. 8. in collaboration with payment service providers, financial technology companies ( fintechs ) have designed innovative products and services to promote digital savings, lending and investments to unbanked customers at affordable costs. some of these products and services include online payment platforms, mobile banking services, quick response codes, money transfer services, deployment of point of sale devices, termination of inward remittances into mobile wallets, and agency banking. more recently, mobile money processes have been integrated with the interbank payment systems infrastructure. 9. as part of the broader strategy to create an enabling regulatory environment for convenient, efficient and safe retail payments and funds transfer mechanisms, the bank of ghana has consolidated all the various regulations and guidelines into the payment systems and services act. 10. in march this year, the payment systems and services act 2019 ( act 987 ) was passed by parliament as part of the continued efforts to establish a strong payment regulatory framework for the country. in may, the act was subsequently assented to by, the president of the republic, reflecting his excellency ’ s commitment to the establishment of a modern payments regulatory framework. this is another milestone in ghana ’ s strategy to develop an efficient payment systems framework to underscore the digitization process. 11. broadly, implementation of the act is expected to liberalize the country ’ s payment system further and allow for the entry of non - banks, direct licensing of fintechs by the bank of ghana, and ultimately promote financial inclusion to facilitate electronic means of payment. in the long - run, ghana ’ s new payment systems and services act is expected to help improve not only the payments system but also create

keynote address on the futuristic economy : technology - driven future of business & governance for economic transformation by dr. ernest addison governor, bank of ghana may 20 - 21, 2019 kempinski gold coast hotel accra, ghana mr. chairman, his excellency the vice president, chiefs, invited guests, distinguished ladies and gentlemen. let me thank organisers of this ghana ceo summit for creating such a unique platform where over 400 ceos gather at one place to discuss issues of relevance to the businesses and the economy in general. mr. chairman, we at the bog start a 3 - day mpc meeting this week which we will review developments on the economy and take a decision on where to place the policy rate. i will therefore not discuss monetary policy today. however, as you all know, in the last two years, we addressed serious lapses in governance and weaknesses in the operational efficiency of some banks. the systemic nature of the infractions put several depositors ’ funds at risk and weakened public trust in the industry. we therefore took the challenge, daunting as it was, to clean the financial sector and safeguard the solvency and stability of the banking system in particular, and the financial system as whole, given the interconnectedness of the banks and other specialized deposit institutions. page | 2 the comprehensive set of reforms we undertook were tough but necessary. over the period, we have recapitalised the banks and implemented several regulatory reforms to underpin the stability and soundness of the banking sector. we now have a well - capitalized, liquid, solvent and resilient banking sector to effectively execute its core mandate of financial intermediation within a stable economic environment. given this platform, permit me to enumerate some of the reforms that have been implemented to safeguard the stability of the financial sector. these reforms are aimed at ensuring the safety and soundness of individual banks, aligning macro - and micro - prudential risks to bank capital and addressing cross - sectoral and cross - border risks to the industry. in order to address the overall risks of the industry, and to properly risk - profile individual banks, we revised the current risk based supervision framework to take account of the current developments in the global banking environment. as part of efforts to reduce the level of impaired assets, we have required that banks help to clean up their books and remove the structural challenges that undermine the effective credit delivery process. we have enforced our directive on loan write - off and require appropriate disclosure