In remarks at the IMF Sub-Saharan Africa Central Bank Network Seminar on CBDC and Digital Payments, the Bank of Ghana set out its approach to improving cross-border payments, with a focus on remittances, compliance and interoperability. The Governor framed the agenda around reducing frictions such as high costs, slow processing, limited transparency and weak interoperability driven by fragmented regulation and misaligned standards. The Bank pointed to Ghana’s participation in the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) as a key regional infrastructure effort, noting participation of 15 central banks, 12 switches and over 50 commercial banks. It also highlighted two initiatives co-led with the National Bank of Rwanda: a FinTech License Passporting Framework to support regulatory coherence and facilitate cross-border market entry for trusted digital firms, and the Africa NextGen Digital Payment Infrastructure (DPI) initiative to explore secure, interoperable and inclusive payment architecture tailored to African use cases. The remarks also referenced multi-regulator sandboxes and the use of supervisory technologies to strengthen real-time compliance monitoring and cross-border data and information sharing, alongside engagement on international standards for AML/CFT, digital identity and data privacy.
Bank of Ghana 2025-05-12
Bank of Ghana highlights PAPSS scale and co-leads fintech passporting and Africa NextGen DPI initiatives at IMF CBDC seminar
At the IMF Sub-Saharan Africa Central Bank Network Seminar, the Bank of Ghana outlined its strategy to enhance cross-border payments, focusing on remittances, compliance, and interoperability. Initiatives include joining the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and collaborating with the National Bank of Rwanda on a FinTech License Passporting Framework and the Africa NextGen Digital Payment Infrastructure initiative. The Bank also emphasized using multi-regulator sandboxes and supervisory technologies to improve compliance monitoring and data sharing, while engaging on international standards for AML/CFT, digital identity, and data privacy.