Embrace digital eco-systems to scale up — Governor urges financial institutions
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, has said the success of digital platforms and ecosystems depends on the active participation and collaboration of all financial institutions and private businesses.
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He said all stakeholders must, therefore, embrace digital initiatives and make them work for their respective businesses as joining such platforms and leveraging digital technologies could help financial institutions to expand their reach, enhance efficiency and unlock new market opportunities.
Dr Addison said private businesses, on the other hand, could tap into the vast potential of intra-African trade, access a wider customer base, and foster mutually beneficial partnerships.
“Together, we can create a thriving digital ecosystem that drives economic growth, boosts investment, and propels Africa forward,” Dr Addison said at the 30th AFREXIM Bank annual meetings and stakeholder side event in Accra last week.
It was held on the theme, “Unlocking Africa’s Trade, investment and commerce opportunities leveraging digital platforms and Ecosystems”.
Digital economy
He said facilitating SMEs participation in the digital economy would enhance efficiency, extend market reach, and build their capacity to generate employment opportunities and boost economic growth.
“The broad-based acceptance of digital payments by SMEs will scale up products and services deployment, and provide digital footprints for improved credit services by financial service providers,” he said.
The central bank, Dr Addison said, was committed to supporting digitalisation and providing an enabling regulatory environment for Fintechs and financial institutions to unlock Africa's trade, investment and commerce opportunities leveraging digital platforms and ecosystems.
“Our involvement in the MANSA Platform and integration with the PAPSS platform are concrete contributions that aim to streamline processes, enhance transparency and facilitate seamless transactions.
We invite all financial institutions and private businesses to actively participate in these initiatives and harness the transformative power of digitalisation,” he said.
Partnerships
Dr Addison said the government was currently working with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to develop a “Business sans Borders” project aimed at boosting the international trade prospects of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
He said the project aimed at bringing on board financial service providers to build mutual access to enhance information to facilitate non-collateralised lending based on borrower intent to pay.
Through the implementation of digital trade platforms for market discovery, the project is expected to significantly impact SMEs in both countries to reach new markets and expand production.
“This solution has been admitted to the Bank of Ghana’s regulatory sandbox for testing and I am of the firm conviction that the success of this bold solution could be replicated in other countries under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) project,” he said.
The “Business sans Borders” is a groundbreaking public initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
It is a hybrid global meta-hub for businesses and digital services that enables enhanced domestic and international trade opportunities for SMEs, Interoperability between SME ecosystems and Quick and intuitive access to the provision of digital services with seamless integration, among others.
The project is aligned with the government’s national digitisation agenda, as well as the Bank of Ghana’s cash lite and financial inclusion agenda, which has led to the implementation of widespread reforms in the payment and settlement systems.