Financial experts call for regulation of Fintechs at #CitiBizFestival

Participants at the Financial Technology Summit organised as part of the Citi Business Festival have emphasized the need to create a financial ecosystem that will guarantee the safety of funds with financial technology (fintech) companies.

According to them, the changing phase of technology makes it imperative for some level of regulation to enhance the security of electronic transactions in the future.

The panel at the summit was made up of the Head of Payment Systems, at the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Setor Amediku, the CEO of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIIPSS), Mr. Archie Hesse, the CTO of PaySwitch, Emmanuel Osei Akoto, the CEO of Rancard Solutions, Kofi Dadzie, the CEO of Hubtel- Alex Brahm, and William Derban from Fidelity Bank.

Discussing the topic the Future of Financial Ecosystem in Ghana, most members of the panel stressed the need for some supervision.

For the CEO of Rancard Solutions, Kofi Dadzie, the central bank would have to catch up with the speed of innovation since electronic transactions will change the phase of the country’s payment system in the future.

He warned that the type of disruption that will hit the fintech industry may not necessarily come from big organisations whose activities are constantly being monitored by the regulators.

“We will not see the pace of innovation that we need coming from large state organizations and from large corporate, simply because of the type of regulation and the space in which they operate and the nature of large organization”.

According to him, the Bank of Ghana must do more than just setting regulations for fintechs and incorporate their activities into the operations of the financial system.

On his part, the CEO of Hubtel, Alex Bram, cautioned that the level of regulation will depend on the nature of transaction undertaken by fintechs.

Meanwhile, the Head of Payment Systems at the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Setor Amediku stated that the payment systems are too critical for the stability of prices, hence the Bank of Ghana will be tough in regulating the area to prevent a collapse of the financial system.

Dr Amediku maintained that the non-existence of proper regulation to supervise the activities of fintechs could distort the financial system, affecting economic stability.

He, therefore, urged the fintechs and telcos to take a six months window of opportunity created by the Bank of Ghana to upgrade their security system to meet a new requirement that will soon be passed into a law.

“I think you are all aware that we have not regularized MTN Mobile Money, Vodafone Cash, Airtel Tigo Cash and the fntechs. So you have a window of opportunity of six months to put their house in order to meet the minimum cybersecurity regulations”.

Dr Amediku warned that the BoG will not allow the system to be abused like it happened in the microfinance industry, leading to the loss of millions of cedis.

The CEO of GhIPSS, Mr Archie Hesse maintained that the growth of fintechs shows that there must be more collaborations between fintechs, regulators and financial institutions.