By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
In a move to safeguard the country’s financial system, Head-Fintech and Innovation, Bank of Ghana (BoG), Kwame Oppong has announced the regulator’s initiative to implement a comprehensive plan in addressing the growing menace of mobile money fraud.
He indicated that the regulator intends to engage stakeholders in rolling out the plan over coming months.
“We have looked internally and through this sector to see how we can work with you in concert with other stakeholders in the fight against fraud. In the next few months, we are going to engage industry in rolling out a comprehensive plan to address the issue of fraud,” he said
Speaking at the MoMo FINTECH stakeholder’s forum, he emphasised that failure on the part of stakeholders in collectively working to fight fraud within the system could negatively affect “continued and sustained use and confidence in the industry”.
Mr. Oppong further noted that the plan will particularly focus on how senior citizens and the vulnerable in society can be protected from fraudsters’ schemes so they can “continue to benefit from the livelihood and timely support that mobile money provides them”.
The forum, organised by MTN Ghana, was held on the theme ‘Building trust and cooperation among stakeholders; How to maximise the impact of emerging technologies for the promotion of financial inclusion’.
He highlighted other pragmatic steps toward the fight against momo fraud, including collaboration between industry players and law enforcement to create an uncomfortable environment for illicit actors in the space.
In his welcome address, Chief Executive Officer-MobileMoney Ltd. Shaibu Haruna outlined the numerous contributions of MoMo in the last fifteen years – and reiterated the company’s commitment to its ambition of bringing digital and financial services to customers across the country’s length and breadth.
He noted that to create an enabling environment that supports digital and financial inclusion for all, they “will work collaboratively with governments, regulators, businesses, FinTechs and the media among others”.
For his part, Chief Technical Officer-IT Consortium, Ebow Anamuah-Mensah, reiterated the need to expand network connectivity – especially to rural areas to ensure equitable access to mobile money services nationwide.
Additionally, he stressed the significant role of mobile money agents – describing them as indispensable in the sector – and further emphasised the need to expand and empower them to deliver better services.
“It is great to see that we are approaching a million agents. We need to expand that, because they are a great resource in providing education to the financially illiterate. They are a group of people we cannot do without,” he noted.
Focusing on emerging technologies for the promotion of financial inclusion, he elaborated the role of AI, blockchain and development of more USSD solutions among others.
