The Bank of Ghana has outlined a draft Open Banking Directive for regulated financial institutions (RFIs).

According to the Central Bank, this Open Banking Directive is an innovative blueprint aimed at enhancing the current banking and financial landscape.

It would serve as a roadmap for RFIs to securely share customer-consented data with each other through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

The objectives of this Open Banking Directive are to promote and deepen financial inclusion; facilitate the secure sharing of customer-consented data; promote innovation in financial service delivery and engender competition among RFIs.

The participating institutions are Universal Banks; Development Banks; Savings and Loans Companies; Micro-Finance Companies; Apex Bank; Rural and Community Banks; among others.

For the purpose of fulfilling the objectives, the Bank of Ghana said participating institutions shall pursue their activities ethically and responsibly by observing the guiding principles including transparency, Interoperability, usability and reciprocity.

For the purpose of effective and efficient operationalization of the open banking service, the Open Data Exchange (OpenDX) platform, a dedicated public digital infrastructure, shall be established to facilitate the safe and secure sharing of customer-consented data amongst Participating Institutions.