Digital Is Banking”: Bank of Ghana Governor Calls for Trust and Innovation in Financial Transformation
Accra, Ghana — The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiama, has underscored the transformative power of digital innovation in reshaping the continent’s financial landscape, declaring that “digital is no longer an add-on to banking; it is banking.”
Speaking at the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Association of Banks in Accra, Dr. Asiama noted that digital acceleration is fundamentally redefining how financial institutions operate and how customers experience banking services. He revealed that in 2024, Ghana recorded over GHS 300 billion in digital transactions a figure equivalent to more than 60 percent of the country’s GDP. “Customers now expect instant settlement, seamless interoperability, and round-the-clock availability,” Dr. Asiama stated. “More than 60 percent of Ghanaians are under 35 they are digital-native, mobile-first, and expect banking to be borderless and personalized.”
According to the Governor, new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), tokenization, and open banking APIs are changing the way banks manage credit, compliance, and fraud detection. Several African banks are already deploying AI-based scoring models and experimenting with tokenized deposits to improve transaction speed and precision. However, he cautioned that these innovations come with emerging risks around algorithmic bias, ethical use of data, and transparency, which require clear regulatory oversight.
Dr. Asiama emphasized that the “infrastructure of trust” in financial services is being redefined around three key pillars: Consent-based digital identity, Programmable payments, and Interoperable, cloud-based systems.
He warned that cybersecurity and third-party risk management are now “as critical as capital adequacy.” The Governor added that operational soundness in banking will increasingly depend on how well institutions secure and govern their technology environments. “Data is now the new capital,” he said. “Open banking shifts control to the customer, enabling secure data sharing between banks and fintechs but only under strict standards for privacy and consent.”
While commending the industry’s progress, Dr. Asiama urged financial institutions to modernize their infrastructure and embed trust at every stage of digital transformation. “The banks that will succeed are those that act with speed and integrity, that design experiences around real customer needs, and that embed accountability into technology,” he concluded.
Ghana’s central bank has taken a proactive role in balancing innovation and regulation, with its digital finance guidelines and cybersecurity directives serving as models for other African economies.
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