Artificial intelligence is driving development and growth, but the same technology is giving cybercriminals new tools to target the businesses and individuals it is meant to serve.
The development is putting pressure on banks, fintechs, telecommunications companies and regulators to strengthen collaboration and ensure that intelligence about emerging threats is shared before attacks spread across the financial system.
Speaking at the official opening of the 2026 National Cyber Security Awareness Month, Cyber Security Authority (CSA) Director-General, Dr Divine Selase Agbeti said artificial intelligence was giving criminals new ways to exploit growing reliance on digital platforms.
“The same artificial intelligence that can improve customer service can be weaponized to create convincing impersonations, phishing messages and sophisticated social engineering attacks,” he said.
The risk is growing in Ghana’s digital finance sector, where mobile money, digital banking and fintech services are now part of everyday transactions. A fake message, cloned voice or manipulated image can make a scam appear to come from a bank, company executive, relative or other trusted person.
The cybersecurity challenge is also evolving. It is no longer just about having firewalls and other technical controls, but how quickly institutions can detect threats and share information before the same attack spreads to others.
Dr Agbeti said cybercriminals already operate across institutional boundaries, exploiting gaps between banks, fintechs, telecommunications companies, regulators and law enforcement agencies.
“Cyber criminals do not operate within our institutional boundaries. They exploit the gaps between our institutions,” he said.
He called for faster sharing of actionable threat intelligence so that institutions can identify common attack patterns and respond before they result in significant losses.
“The real measure is how quickly we can detect, share, respond and recover together,” he said.
The Bank of Ghana is already developing mechanisms aimed at improving this coordination. Its Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre is designed to facilitate real-time threat intelligence and monitoring across the financial sector.
The central bank is also developing a fraud intelligence hub to give financial institutions greater visibility into emerging fraud patterns, typologies and threat indicators.
Daniel S. Klu, Director of Information Security at the Bank of Ghana, said the initiatives were part of efforts to build a more intelligence-led response to financial fraud.
“Through this initiative, we are moving towards a more collaborative and intelligence-led approach to combating financial fraud and strengthening resilience in Ghana’s financial sector,” he said.
The Bank is also strengthening digital forensic capabilities through a specialised laboratory that can support investigations involving computers, mobile devices, networks, malware and other forms of digital evidence.
The need for stronger protection comes as Ghana’s digital finance ecosystem continues to grow. Mobile money balances reached about GH¢40 billion in June 2026, while platforms processed transactions worth nearly GH¢493 billion during the month, according to Bank of Ghana data.
That scale means cyber threats can have consequences beyond individual victims or institutions, potentially affecting confidence in the digital financial system.
Consumers are also facing a more difficult task in distinguishing legitimate communications from sophisticated scams. Mr Agbeti urged users to verify unexpected requests for money and protect their passwords, PINs and authentication credentials.
AI is now being used on both sides of the financial system, helping institutions deliver services while also giving criminals new ways to commit fraud. That makes trust depend more on how well institutions share information, spot threats, and respond together.
