BoG targets digital finance training to reduce fraud

The central bank has said it will roll out a nationwide digital financial education programme to educate Ghanaians on digital financial service to enhance security of the service and products offered by banks and reduce fraud.

Speaking at the 6th Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Association of Savings and Loans Companies, Dr. Johnson P. Asiama, Second Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana (BoG) said, “we want to foster closer collaboration among stakeholders to design and deliver nationwide digital financial education programme to empower users against fraud.”

“We must remember that people are often the key source of vulnerability, but at the same time, can provide a strong defense against fraud if they are equipped with the right knowledge. The area of digital financial service presents peculiar challenges which require collaboration among stakeholders for an impactful programme,” he added.

Three institutions, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank, the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO), and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), in June this year, launched a US$5.6 million Ghana Digital Financial Services initiative.

A CGAP research has found that financial inclusion in rural Ghana has increased from 44 percent in 2010, to 72 per cent in 2015, and while the number of mobile money transactions has grown tremendously, service providers report slow adoption of mobile money usage and a high number of inactive customers.

According to the IFC, the aims of the initiative are to advance financial inclusion in Ghana through the use of new technology and innovative business models. The initiative funded by SECO, is being implemented by the IFC and CGAP in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana and the financial industry.

The Bog believes that the Ghana Digital Financial Services was essential because of the impact financial inclusion has on poverty reduction and economic growth, as well as the increasing rise of electronic fraud adding that data from the central bank as at June 2016 indicated, accounts for more than 80 percent of all complaints and fraud cases.

To ensure that benefits of digital finance are fully realized, Dr. Asiama also said the Bank has initiated a process to review the E-Money Issuers and Agents Guidelines. This regulation, he noted, has been referred to all banks for their objections whiles copies are also accessible on the Bank’s website.

“Digital finance is a revolution not an option. Let us therefore embrace it to promote financial inclusion, save cost and remain in business.”

He stressed that technology is the fuel and future of financial service delivery in Ghana and urged financial technology firms to follow the principle of responsible innovation as they seek to come out with innovative financial products so that their inventions will not be a threat to economic stability.

“We as regulators are working to position the country to harness technology for a safe, sound and efficient financial sector through the promotion of innovative financial products without risking the stability of the financial system,” he explained.