Bank of Ghana advised to improve enforcement of cybersecurity

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has been advised to improve on its enforcement of cybersecurity.

Speaking to Joy Business on the sidelines of a programme on the impact of Covid-19 on Ghana’s digitalisation agenda, National Security Advisor, Albert Antwi-Boasiako said this will minimise any damage to the financial sector.

According to the 2019 Bank of Ghana Fraud Report, cyber-crime took a nose dive, dropping by 34 percent to 114 in 2019.

Despite the improved data, National Security Advisor, Albert Antwi-Boasiako has urged banks to timely share information on cyber-attacks and threats to their systems.

This, he believes will reduce impairment to the financial sector.

“Timely sharing of information on attacks and threats, I think that will help the banks to quickly respond and deal with the issue. So that’s one area, we’re looking at improving but we also expect to improve enforcement.”

“The directive from the Central Bank is important, but I think we need to improve on enforcement to ensure that all the banks, all financial institutions are able to implement the various guidelines that are provided in the document,” he emphasised.

On his part, the Managing director of Cal Bank Ghana, Philip Owiredu, said all banks through the Ghana Association of Bankers are working together to ensure a safe cyber space in the financial sector.

“There is collaboration through the Ghana Association of Bankers. At the moment, what we’re trying to do is to ensure that, in terms, of the guidelines issued by the central bank, we’ll all adhere to that.

“The central bank guidelines include ensuring that there is a Security Operation Center for all banks which will be linked to the Central Bank,” he said.

2019 Banking Sector Report

According to the 2019 Bank of Ghana Fraud Report, the banking industry reported a total number of 2,295 fraud cases as compared to 2,175 fraud cases reported in 2018.

The marginal increase in the number of fraud cases reported may partly be attributed to the improved efforts by the Financial Stability Department to identify, monitor and to ensure compliance with reporting of fraud cases in the industry.