The Executive Head Corporate and Enterprise Banking at the Bank of Africa (BoA) has noted that the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic is changing the dynamics of banking across the globe.

William Boateng explained that the pandemic is ushering the banking system into a new era where bank and customers heavily rely on technology to transact business.

To that end, he said, the Bank of Africa will leverage on the available technology and its global presence to meet the demands of customers.

He said this during a business webinar on the theme: ‘Banking in a Covid-19 environment, Dynamics for Corporate, SMEs and Individuals’ organized by the Bank of Africa in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI France Ghana) on Thursday.

Mr Boateng said, “Covid-19 is testing the trust. Businesses are worried that the banks are strong. Banks are now shifting from the usual ways of doing things and we are leveraging on our presence across the globe to be able to support our customers.”

He noted also that the pandemic is testing the loyalty of customers for their banks hence the need to adopt new ways of transacting business which include online trade to meet their demands.

“What Covid-19 is doing is that it is teaching us new ways of doing business, opening our eyes to opportunities that come with technology,” he said.

He further explained that the COVOD-19 is forcing countries to look inward for ideas to grow their economies. In Ghana, he said, the pandemic is reinforcing the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda by the Akufo-Addo administration.

In his Independence Day speech in March 2017, President Akufo-Addo signalled his intent to pursue the vision of a Ghana that is not dependent on aid.

This led to the commissioning of the Ghana Beyond Aid Committee to draw up the roadmap for achieving this objective.

Mr Boateng said, “the Covid-19 is forcing countries to look within to meet the demand of the economy. It is a good thing…it forces us to reinforce the concept of the Ghana Beyond Aid.”

For his part, Philemon Kwame Ankomah, Chief Information Security Officer with the Bank revealed that cybercrime is increasing in Ghana and the world over in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said this is because many people are now resorting to the use of online services to conduct businesses.

According to him, the hackers and cyber fraudsters are taking undue advantage of the pandemic to defraud people.

He cited an example in Ghana where they clone ATM cards used on off-site ATMs through which they make a lot of withdrawals.

Mr Ankomah said fraudsters have successfully cloned some ATM cards and withdrawn money belonging to depositors of banks, especially during the coronavirus period.

Globally, he said, cybercrime has increased drastically, too, due to the pandemic because the criminals want to take advantage of the banks and other financial institutions that are adapting to new ways of transacting business.

Mr Ankomah explained that there are threats associated with the dynamics of the new normal in the wake of the pandemic.

“Undoubtedly, one of the biggest winners of COVID-19’s arrival is video conferencing. Before the arrival of COVID-19, we all admit that very few tech-savvy companies and individuals engaged in online meetings and video conferencing, but now, this has become the new normal”.