Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiama, is pushing for an African digital payments systems that meet the realities of the continent and puts the needs of the people at the center stage.
The governor is also urging African regulators, policymakers, and innovators to ensure that digital payment systems and standards are shaped by Africa’s context and not simply imported and replicated from abroad.
Dr. Johnson Asiama made this call for transformation when he spoke at the IMF SSA Central Bank Network Seminar on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and Digital Payments under the theme “Remittances, Compliance, and Interoperability” in the Bank’s Square in Accra.
Digital infrastructure alone, the governor maintained, is insufficient. He said the continent’s growing digital finance landscape must be built not just on advanced technology, but on coherent policy, regulatory agility, and human stories.
“Infrastructure alone is not enough. Policy coherence and regulatory agility must go hand in hand. We see strong potential in tools such as multi-regulator sandboxes, which bring regulators, innovators, and governments into a shared testing environment,” he indicated.
As Africa champions its own digital payment systems, the governor calls for the innovations that do not lose sight of the needs of entrepreneurs, single-parents who depend on remittances, businessmen and women who engage in cross-border trade among others.
He said, “As we talk about systems and standards, let us not lose sight of the real human stories behind these reforms. The single mother receiving remittances to keep her children in school. The young entrepreneur seeking payment channels to export their goods. The regulator striving to ensure innovation does not outpace resilience. These are the lives we must center in our work.”
He further pointed out in the area of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) that Africa must not just be a taker of international digital standards but must chart its own path in digital identity and data privacy.
He warned against passively accepting standards imposed from outside the continent.
“We must be proactive in shaping international digital standards so that they are inclusive of our contexts, rather than imposed from outside,” he asserted.
He added that well-structured digital trade agreements can support this vision by promoting interoperability and trust among countries and systems, which is crucial in the evolution of cross-border digital payments and remittance systems across Africa.
Africa is currently experiencing a surge in digital payment systems, with mobile money, fintech platforms, and digital banking expanding rapidly. Yet, fragmented systems, lack of regulatory clarity, and limited cross-border interoperability continue to hinder inclusive growth.
Dr. Asiamah maintains that as the continent prepares for broader adoption of cross-border payment innovations, systems and standards must prioritize human-centered needs.
