Ghana stands at an important crossroads in the evolution of digital banking. The question before the banking industry is no longer whether customers should communicate and transact electronically, but whether the regulatory and technological architecture supporting that communication is evolving quickly enough to match customer behaviour, commercial activity and the ambitions of Ghana’s digital economy.
The emerging proposal by banks for the Bank of Ghana to recognise WhatsApp as an additional channel for delivering One Time Passwords, alongside SMS, therefore deserves serious national consideration.
This should not be viewed simply as a request by banks for another messaging platform. It is an opportunity to rethink how authentication, customer communication, electronic consent, transaction alerts and digital banking services can be delivered through a secure multi-channel ecosystem.
Ghana’s legal framework already recognises electronic communications and transactions. The Electronic Transactions Act, 2008, Act 772, provides the statutory foundation for electronic communications and transactions, while the proposed Electronic Transactions Bill, 2025 seeks to modernise the framework further.
The policy challenge, therefore, is not whether electronic communication is legally or commercially relevant. It is how Ghana can make electronic financial communication secure, reliable, convenient, inclusive and regulatorily accountable.
Digital banking has already moved beyond the SMS era
The scale of Ghana’s digital financial ecosystem makes this conversation urgent. Mobile money transactions reached GH¢493.2 billion in April 2026, involving 967 million transactions.
The Bank of Ghana’s 2025 Financial Stability Review also reported that the value of internet banking transactions increased by 80.7 percent, while mobile banking transaction value increased by 130.5 percent during 2025. The value of Ghana Interbank Settlement transactions reached GH¢9.45 trillion, representing a 54.1 percent increase from 2024.
These figures demonstrate a fundamental reality: digital financial communication is becoming part of Ghana’s economic infrastructure.
The Bank of Ghana’s National Payment Systems Strategy 2025 to 2029 itself identifies safety, efficiency, network reliability, multiple reliable digital payment methods, interoperability, innovation and inclusion as central requirements of the future payment ecosystem.
Consequently, relying excessively on one communication channel for authentication creates a potential concentration risk.
Why WhatsApp OTPs deserve regulatory consideration
WhatsApp has become an important communication platform for individuals, businesses and institutions. Banks already use WhatsApp for customer enquiries, notifications and service delivery. Bank of Africa Ghana, for example, publicly provides a WhatsApp contact facility alongside its digital banking services.
The proposition is therefore not to transform WhatsApp into a banking platform overnight. Rather, a carefully designed WhatsApp OTP service could provide a secondary authentication delivery route when SMS is delayed, unavailable or unreliable.
Consider the following simplified econometric relationship:
Probability of successful transaction = f(authentication availability, network reliability, transaction speed, customer behaviour, fraud controls and system uptime).
If authentication availability improves, transaction completion should, all other things being equal, improve.
For illustration, if an authentication alternative reduced failed authentication attempts by only 2 percent across a large population of digital transactions, the economic benefit could be significant. The actual elasticity should, however, be established through controlled industry data rather than assumed.
The objective should therefore be evidence-based regulatory experimentation, not technology-driven deregulation.
The critical issue is not convenience but security
The strongest argument against WhatsApp OTPs is cybersecurity.
The Cyber Security Authority has warned of online fraud schemes in which criminals impersonate banks and request customers’ personal information, card information and OTPs.
More significantly, the Authority issued an alert in January 2026 concerning WhatsApp Web-based malware capable of harvesting banking credentials, OTPs, browser cookies and keystrokes.
This demonstrates why WhatsApp should never become a standalone authentication mechanism.
A safer architecture would separate communication from authorisation.
A WhatsApp message could notify a customer that an authentication request exists, but the actual approval could require a cryptographically protected action inside the bank’s application, biometric confirmation, device binding or another strong authentication mechanism.
Ghana needs a multi-channel digital banking architecture
The future should not be WhatsApp replacing SMS. It should be an intelligent authentication and communication hierarchy.
| Channel | Primary application | Relative convenience | Principal risk | Recommended policy |
| SMS | OTP and alerts | High | SIM swap and interception | Retain |
| OTP notification and customer communication | Very high | Account takeover and social engineering | Controlled pilot | |
| Banking application | Strong authentication and transaction approval | Very high | Malware and compromised devices | Expand |
| USSD | Basic banking and authentication | High | Session and social engineering risks | Strengthen |
| Statements, alerts and documents | High | Phishing and account compromise | Expand cautiously | |
| Push notification | Transaction confirmation | Very high | Device compromise | Expand |
| In-app biometric | High value authentication | Very high | Biometric or device compromise | Strongly encourage |
| Voice authentication | Customer service and selected authentication | Medium | Voice cloning | Limited application |
| QR authentication | Merchant and account verification | High | Malicious QR codes | Standardise |
| Digital certificates | High value institutional transactions | Medium | Key management | Expand for businesses |
| API based communication | Corporate banking and fintech integration | Very high | System integration risk | Expand under standards |
Industry Harmony: The Ghana Association of Banks should lead
The Ghana Association of Banks is uniquely positioned to transform this debate into an industry-wide programme. It currently represents 24 member institutions and serves as the banking industry’s advocacy and networking platform.
GAB should establish a Digital Banking Authentication and Communications Council involving:
- Bank of Ghana
- Ghana Association of Banks
- Cyber Security Authority
- Data Protection Commission
- National Communications Authority
- Telecommunications operators
- Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems
- Licensed fintech companies
- Banking technology providers
- Consumer and financial inclusion representatives
The Council could develop common standards covering authentication, encryption, customer consent, audit trails, data retention, fraud detection, incident reporting, customer compensation and emergency suspension.
This approach is consistent with Ghana’s existing cybersecurity governance direction, where the Cyber Security Authority has identified collaboration with the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Association of Banks as important to cybersecurity regulation in banking. (csa.gov.gh)
Impact on government initiatives
A modern digital communication framework would directly support government digitalisation, financial inclusion and cashless economy objectives.
The government increasingly depends on electronic platforms for tax payments, public services, social interventions, business registration and other transactions. Ghana’s official digital services platform already provides access to government services and payments.
A more reliable banking communication infrastructure would therefore reduce transaction friction between citizens, businesses and government.
Impact on businesses
For businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises, speed is capital.
A delayed OTP can mean a delayed supplier payment, missed procurement opportunity, delayed payroll or abandoned online purchase.
Multiple authenticated channels could reduce transaction failure and improve working capital velocity.
Businesses could also benefit from secure application programming interfaces, digital certificates, electronic signatures, automated payment notifications and machine readable bank statements.
Impact on households
For households, the principal benefit is convenience.
A customer should not have to abandon an urgent legitimate transaction simply because an SMS has been delayed.
Alternative authenticated channels could particularly benefit customers who experience network congestion, poor SMS delivery, roaming challenges or difficulties receiving messages.
However, consumer education must accompany the transition. Customers must understand one fundamental rule:
Measuring success through data
The proposed system should be evaluated using measurable indicators.
| Indicator | Measurement |
| OTP delivery success | Percentage successfully delivered |
| Authentication time | Average seconds to completion |
| Transaction abandonment | Percentage of initiated transactions not completed |
| Fraud rate | Fraud cases per 100,000 transactions |
| Customer complaints | Complaints per 100,000 customers |
| System availability | Percentage uptime |
| Cost efficiency | Cost per successful authentication |
| Inclusion | Successful use among underserved customers |
This would allow BoG to determine whether WhatsApp and other channels genuinely improve financial efficiency rather than merely creating another source of cybersecurity exposure.
Conclusion
The future of Ghanaian banking cannot be built around SMS alone.
Neither, however, should it be built around WhatsApp alone.
The appropriate objective is a secure multi-channel digital banking ecosystem in which SMS, WhatsApp, banking applications, USSD, push notifications, email, biometrics, QR authentication, digital certificates and secure application programming interfaces perform clearly defined functions according to transaction risk.
The Bank of Ghana should therefore consider the banking industry’s proposal within a controlled, risk-based regulatory framework rather than as a simple approval or rejection of WhatsApp OTPs.
The Ghana Association of Banks should take the initiative by convening the relevant stakeholders and developing common industry standards.
The evidence is already compelling. Ghana’s digital financial transactions are growing rapidly, with internet banking value increasing by 80.7 percent and mobile banking value by 130.5 percent in 2025. The National Payment Systems Strategy 2025 to 2029 also explicitly calls for a secure, inclusive, innovative and technology-driven payment ecosystem.
The strategic question is therefore no longer whether Ghana should embrace electronic financial communication. It is whether regulation, technology and industry collaboration can move together quickly enough to ensure that convenience does not compromise trust, and innovation does not compromise financial security.
Ghana’s opportunity is to move from a single-channel authentication culture to an intelligent, interoperable, and risk-based digital financial ecosystem.
That is the real meaning of banking beyond SMS.
