The Bank of Ghana says it will continue to modernise the supportive regulatory frameworks of digital banking to enhance security and promote confidence and trust in the ecosystem.

Speaking at the Standard Chartered Bank Digital Banking, Innovation and Fintech Festival, Governor Dr. Ernest Addison said it is important that regulations keep abreast with the rapid changes in the ecosystem without stifling innovation in digital financial services.

The Bank of Ghana, he said, has adopted the regulatory and innovation Sandbox approach to deal with this issue.

Currently, the sandbox is being used to live-test innovative digital financial service products, business models and supportive technologies in a controlled environment for possible market rollout.

“As a nurturing arena, the Regulatory and Innovation Sandbox will ensure that the ecosystem remains relevant and resilient to better serve the changing needs of society in a sustainable manner”, Dr. Addison pointed out.

Also, he said “it is important to note that the burden of security awareness is not only on market players. Indeed, the emergence of new and digital financial solutions has introduced significant complexities in regulation and supervision as well. Therefore, discussions on creating an enabling environment for financial sector digitisation must also focus on regulatory technology (RegTech) and supervisory technology (SupTech).”

Presently, the manual supervisory tools, the Governor said, are ineffective in the supervision of digital financial service ecosystem due to its dependence on digital technology, high frequency and dense data, fast transactions, complex and evolving systems.

Consequently, the Bank has invested in SupTech tools to exercise effective oversight and supervision of digital financial services and reduce the burden of reporting on regulated entities, saying, an online reporting analytic surveillance system (ORASS) has been set up to facilitate submission and improve analysis of prudential and other regulatory returns.

He said the e-Cedi project presents a unique opportunity to design a technological representation of a fiat currency that will drive the financial sector digitization further and also facilitate the government’s inclusive digital transformation programme.

Vice President Dr. Mahamud Bawumia, in a keynote speech applauded Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC for the innovative products since its establishment in Ghana and the role it play in expanding the country’s financial services sector.