The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, has called on banks to accelerate digital products development to meet the growing needs of Ghanaians.

By developing innovative, customer-focused products, banks could increase their reach to the underserved, contributing more to supporting Ghana’s economic growth and financial inclusion, he said.

The Central Bank Governor spoke at a Thought Leadership Conference held by the Ghana Association of Banks and Absa Ghana LTD, in Accra, on Wednesday.

Held on the theme: “Banking the Last Mile: An Industry-Led Strategy for Accelerating Digital Finance,” it brought together bank executives, regulators and customers to discuss ways to accelerate digital finance.

As of March 2025, the value of mobile money (MoMo) transactions stood at GHC351.7 billion with the volume of transactions reaching 764 million, which has since increased to GHS365 billion in value and 778 million in volume for April 2025, respectively.

The March 2025 Summary of Economic and Financial Data showed that over 97 per cent of digital transaction volumes and 72 per cent of value were now processed through mobile money platforms.

Meanwhile, bank digital channels accounted for less than one per cent of the volume of digital transactions, with more than four million Ghanaians accessing unsecured mobile loans, often beyond the reach of traditional financial institutions.

Dr Asiama stated that the bank’s recent survey also showed high digital account ownership and active usage, particularly for savings, credit, pensions, and insurance, but remained low among small-income populations, women, and rural dwellers.

“This highlights the real challenge before us: it is not only about expanding infrastructure; it is about designing relevant, inclusive financial products that meet the real needs of ordinary Ghanaians,” Governor Asiama said.

He noted that industry-led strategies had become indispensable to deepening engagement, unlocking new value, and driving meaningful financial inclusion across every segment of the Ghanaian society.

The strategies included facilitating Application Programming Interface (API) standardisation across banks and Fintechs, driving competitive product layering and empowering customers with data portability and consent-driven services.

He, therefore, encouraged banks to embrace the next phase of transformation in the sector, which required a shift in focus from access to value and from connectivity to capability.

“This transformation must be industry-led, but also policy-aligned. The evolution of our digital finance space cannot be left to chance – it must be guided by deliberate coordination, shared infrastructure, and thoughtful innovation,” he said.

Governor Asiama pledged the Bank of Ghana’s support in ensuring that its impending regulatory reforms on data governance and consumer protection matched global best practices while being context-sensitive.

“Neither banks, nor Fintechs, nor telcos can do this alone. We need blended delivery models, co-created products, and shared digital rails to reach underserved populations,” he stated.

Dr Edmund Nartey Botchway, the Managing Director, Absa, called for a good blend between the need to innovate to meet industry demands, rebuild and manage digital infrastructure and customer needs.

“To innovate and to improve on all the things that we say that we want to do, it’s important that as players in the sector we must consider effective data protection, control and manage as we move on this journey of digital finance,” he said.

Dr Botchway encouraged customers to prioritise self-education on various digital finance innovations to ensure that people did not take advantage of them.

“If we think about all these factors that are at play and how we properly manage them, as we put our minds together, we will come to a point where, collectively, we do arrive at the right outcomes,” he stated.