The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has long recognised that increasing use of technology in the financial sector comes with cyber threats, First Deputy Governor, Dr Zakari Mumuni, has said.
To that end, he said measures have been taken to address the matter and that at the heart of these efforts is the consumer.
“In Ghana, mobile money accounts now exceed 70 million, introducing millions of first-time users into formal finance. But with this growth comes greater exposure. Complaints about failed transactions, fraud, and service disruptions are rising,” he said.
He noted that the response of the BoG has been multifaceted. These include strengthening consumer protection, including complaint resolution protocols and disclosure standards; Expanding financial literacy, particularly for women, youth, and underserved communities; and partnering with schools, religious bodies, and civil society to promote digital safety awareness at the grassroots.
“We believe that inclusion must be built on trust, trust in the system, trust in providers, and trust that grievances will be addressed fairly and swiftly,” he said.
In 2018, he recounted, the BoG issued one of the continent’s earliest Cyber and Information Security Directives for financial institutions, mandating risk-based frameworks, incident response protocols, and regulatory reporting.
Today, he said, over 40 financial institutions are integrated into our Financial Industry Security Operations Centre (FINSOC), enabling real-time threat detection and response.
“We conduct annual cybersecurity maturity assessments, using international frameworks like NIST and COBIT-5, to inform supervisory action and identify systemic gaps. In 2024, over 40% of assessed entities showed critical vulnerabilities particularly in access control and incident response. We are addressing these gaps with targeted interventions.
“Critically, we are not acting alone. We continue to work closely with Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority, the World Bank, INTERPOL, and the Africa Cybersecurity Resource Centre to bolster expertise and coordinate responses at scale,” he said.
