BoG Director Calls For Strong Protection Of Payment Systems To Build Public Confidence
BoG Director Calls For Strong Protection Of Payment Systems To Build Public Confidence
BoG Director Calls For Strong Protection Of Payment Systems To Build Public Confidence
Story by Fada Amakye
The Director of the Payment Systems Department at the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Clarence Blay, has stressed the need for a strong and secure payment system to support Ghana’s financial sector.
He said the payment system is at the heart of the financial system and any problem in one financial institution can affect the whole system if not properly managed.
According to him, the payment system must be made more intelligent to understand and manage risks.
Mr. Blay said this requires a strong and robust regulatory regime, capacity building, and the right infrastructure to ensure efficiency in the delivery of financial services.
He noted that beyond putting these systems in place, there is the need to build public confidence so that more people will patronize digital payment services.
“The confidence is that people know that the systems they are going to use is properly protected,” he said.
Mr. Blay said the growing interest in payment systems by cyber criminals has created serious cyber security risks, but Ghana has addressed this with the establishment of a Financial Industry Security Command Centre where cyber risk information is gathered and shared among financial service providers.
He explained that such systems did not exist about 10 years ago, which shows that while challenges have become bigger, opportunities have also increased.
He added that the same technology being used by cyber criminals, such as Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, is also providing regulators with powerful tools to protect the payment ecosystem.
Mr. Blay said although the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) remains systemically important, retail payment systems such as mobile money and instant payments are now also very critical due to the high volume of transactions.
He noted that even though individual transaction values are small, in aggregate they are very high because they include people’s lifeline funds such as medical bills and school fees.
He therefore charged stakeholders to protect the payment system to engender confidence in the financial services industry.
Mr. Blay further called for efficient and affordable payment systems across Africa to boost intra-African trade and improve the welfare of people on the continent.
