As part of Mozambique FinTech Week’25, held from 17 to 20 March under the theme “Regulation and Governance for an Innovative Financial Ecosystem”, Kwame Oppong, Director of FinTech and Innovation at Ghana’s central bank, presented his country’s journey in transforming the financial system through technological solutions, with a special focus on financial inclusion, innovation and institutional governance.
In his speech, Oppong recalled that Ghana’s involvement with the FinTech ecosystem began in the early 2000s, when the central bank began to anticipate the need to prepare the country for a digital future in the financial sector. ‘We started by establishing a national clearing system and, over time, we integrated mobile money into our ecosystem,’ he explained.
According to the official, the digitalisation of the Ghanaian economy was based on three strategic axes: broadening financial inclusion, creating job opportunities and strengthening the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. ‘Many citizens didn’t have access to financial services and, of those who did, few had products suited to their everyday needs,’ he noted.
Oppong also emphasised that the FinTech sector has been driving the emergence of innovative companies with the potential to generate qualified employment. ‘As they grow, these start-ups start recruiting professionals from the banking and technology sectors, which raises the quality of employment and pay,’ he said.
The dynamism of the digital sector has allowed Ghana to attract significant investment, in some years exceeding 100 million dollars (6.3 billion meticals). This evolution has been based on interoperability between bank accounts, mobile wallets, biometric identification and digital geolocalisation and addressing infrastructures.
Among the most transformed services are electronic payments, internal remittances and digital credit, as well as access to investment and retirement products. According to Oppong, inward remittances have surpassed foreign direct investment flows in certain years. ‘In 2024, for example, we received more than 6 billion dollars (378 billion meticals) – which represents a significant contribution to our foreign exchange reserves,’ he pointed out.
Fintechs are driving financial modernisation in Ghana, but they depend on regulatory advances and integration with public policies
In the field of pensions and investment, the country has been developing inclusion mechanisms for informal sector workers. Products such as Treasury Bills for All, launched in 2017, and platforms such as People’s Pension Trust or MyPensions, are the result of partnerships between financial institutions and technology companies.
These initiatives make it possible for farmers, informal vendors, taxi drivers and other professionals outside the traditional contributory system to access savings and investment instruments. ‘These products deconstruct barriers to entry, allowing more citizens to participate in the system,’ he noted.
Kwame Oppong also mentioned the growing role of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and the analysis of large volumes of data, in developing solutions adapted to the African context. ‘These tools make it possible to extract in-depth knowledge from dispersed data, helping us to make the transition to more intelligent and efficient models,’ he said.
On the regulatory front, Ghana’s central bank has adopted a risk-based approach, with the aim of balancing the promotion of innovation with consumer protection and system stability. ‘We have established different categories of service providers, adjusting the requirements according to the degree of risk each activity represents,’ he explained.
Thus, operators with basic services and low risk can be licensed with reduced requirements, as long as they operate through entities that fulfil international security and resilience standards, such as ISO certification or compliance with PCI-DSS standards.
With regard to governance, Oppong recognised that many entrepreneurs initially neglect this aspect. ‘It’s common for startups not to value structures such as boards of directors or autonomous internal control functions in the early stages of the business,’ he said.
However, he emphasised that companies that adopt good governance practices are invariably the most sustainable and successful. ‘Our experience shows that these are the most compliant entities and the best performers in the sector,’ he said.
At the end of his speech, the director left a message addressed directly to the founders of FinTech companies: ‘If there is no voice other than yours in the development of the business, there will be no barrier to protect you from yourself. Trust is the most important asset in the financial sector and it must be built from day one.’
Mozambique FinTech Week’25 ended on 20 March with face-to-face sessions that consolidated the dialogue between regulators, entrepreneurs, investors and academics around building a robust, inclusive and sustainable digital financial ecosystem.
