The central bank has revealed that a draft bill that will ensure that will consolidate the regulations on mobile money as well as other existing payment systems is currently before the Ministry of Finance and will soon be sent to Cabinet for consideration.
According the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Dr. Johnson Asiama, due to the changing nature of banking and payment landscape, the bank initiated a process to review the Electronic Money Issuers and Agents’ Guidelines (2015) and the Payment Systems Act 2003 (Act 662) with the view to consolidating it into one piece of legislation called, Payment Systems and Services Bill, 2017.
Speaking at the 10th Anniversary Ball of Fidelity Bank, Dr. Asiama stated that the improvement in regulatory environment has drawn interest of banks and non-bank institutions in the digital financial space.
“We are seeing increasing collaboration between banks and non-bank institutions such as telcos and financial technology firms for financial service delivery, hence there is no doubt that technology is promoting innovative financial products and a more inclusive financial system in Ghana,” he said.
Dr. Asiama stated that the central bank as part of measures to enhance security to reduce fraud in the industry is working banks to ensure that all payment cards are migrated from magnetic stripe standard to Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip and PIN standard by close of this year.