Vice-President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang officially opened the ongoing ACI World Congress in Accra on Friday, May 22, 2026.

The global summit, hosted in the capital, is unfolding under the theme, “Elevating Markets, Empowering People.” The agenda comes at a time when developing nations are aggressively restructuring their fiscal systems to build resilience against international economic volatility.

Markets Must Serve Humanity

In her opening address, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang observed that the chosen theme serves as a timely reminder that financial markets do not operate in a vacuum. Instead, she argued, their core mandate must always be to serve the populace, unlock fresh economic opportunities, and systematically improve sustainable livelihoods.

The Vice-President pointed out that the current global economic landscape remains deeply marked by systemic instability and macro-uncertainty. These international economic shifts, she warned, carry a disproportionate impact on emerging and frontier economies like Ghana, directly disrupting national development planning, eroding corporate business confidence, and squeezing household budgets.

To mitigate these external shocks, the Vice-President called for a return to ethical fundamentals in the global trading ecosystem, reminding the panel that human capital drives all financial metrics.

“Behind every trade and financial transaction are people making decisions; it is therefore essential that regulation, transparency, and accountability remain central to the development of our financial systems,” the Vice-President stated.

Building Digital Trust in the Automated Era

A central theme of the opening day was the rapid transformation of the financial sector through technology and automation. Prof. Opoku-Agyemang acknowledged that while digital innovation continues to create new investment opportunities and improve transactional efficiency, it also brings a new set of structural vulnerabilities.

For countries like Ghana to fully exploit the benefits of automated trading, she explained that state and private actors must make deliberate, capital-intensive investments in digital infrastructure and digital trust frameworks to protect the integrity of financial networks from cyber threats.

She added that strengthening local financial markets and ensuring broader indigenous participation will remain critical as the African continent advances deeper into its cross-border economic integration agenda.

Investing in Africa’s New Generation

Looking toward the long-term sustainability of continental markets, the Vice-President issued a passionate call for heavy investment in young people and continuous skills development. She noted that the future vitality of Africa’s financial institutions will depend entirely on a new generation that is inherently innovative, highly adaptable, and globally competitive.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang concluded her speech by charging the participants to use the Accra congress to develop practical solutions that shift the industry toward markets that are globally trusted, socially inclusive, and deeply responsive to the daily realities of the ordinary people they are meant to serve.

The congress continues over the weekend, with technical panels expected to draft a regulatory framework aimed at balancing financial market expansion with consumer protection across frontier economies.