Bank of Ghana gives ultimatum for fintechs and mobile money operators to acquire license

The license when acquired will enable fintechs and Mobile money operators to operate in the electronic payment space.

The license acquisition is one of the requirements in the Payment Systems and Services, 2019 (987Act) which was passed in March this year. The Act was passed to allow the effective monitoring and regulation of digital transactions following an increase in such services.

According to statistics from the BoG, mobile money accounts have increased to 32 million. However, bank accounts currently stand at 12 million with a lot of them being inactive.

Due to the increase in mobile money subscribers the Head of Payment Systems Department at the Bank of Ghana, Dr Settor Amediku said “consumer protection issues have gained prominence in the digital financial service on account of the complexity of the digital ecosystem. For this reason, regulatory guidance is required for effective consumer protection

He was speaking at the 23rd National Banking Conference organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

He added that the Central Bank has increased its monitoring of digital transactions with the introduction of a database called the Visor.

The Visor will help the BoG monitor real time all electronic transactions of banks.

Dr Amediku added that they are talking to the banks to facilitate the introduction of the database.

“Vizor will provide end-to-end solution which permits the bank to collect, process, store as well as report on macro and micro-prudential data, statistical data or any other data required as part of the supervisory process.”