Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson P. Asiama, has declared a shift in the central bank’s supervisory approach promising a new era of forward-looking, risk-sensitive, and collaborative regulation of the banking sector.
The Governor made this new commitment during his maiden post-MPC meeting with CEOs of banks announcing a strategic departure from the reactive oversight that characterized Ghana’s past financial crises.
One criticism of the supervision of the Central is the perceived reactive approach that allows things to deteriorate before intervention of the bank.
Critics often cite the banking sector cleanup of 2017 leading to the collapse of several banks and other financial institutions as a disaster that could have been averted if the supervision of the bank was proactive enough.
With the lessons learnt, Dr. Johnson Asiama, promised the captains of the banking sector that his leadership won’t sit aloof for things to escalate in the sector but will rather prioritize a more anticipatory regulatory stance.
“To build true resilience, we must move decisively beyond traditional, reactive supervision toward a more forward-looking, risk-sensitive, and system aware model,” the Governor of BoG indicated.
The Governor’s new regulatory vision is anchored in six strategic pillars. These include early risk identification through data analytics, digital resilience, robust governance and compliance, deepened collaboration, future-ready supervisory capacity, and sustainability oversight.
These pillars, he believes will create an agile and responsive banking sector that meet the socio-economic development needs of the country.
He said, “This shift is not just about enforcing compliance—it is about shaping a banking system that is agile, accountable, and prepared for the future “ adding that “Resilience will depend not on avoiding risk altogether, but on managing it wisely, transparently, and in alignment with broader economic and environmental goals,”
His comments appear to reflect a desire to future-proof Ghana’s financial sector against growing threats, from rising credit risk to cyber fraud and the complex challenges posed by digital finance and climate change.
This shift in the strategy of supervision is expected to recalibrate the relationship between the central bank and financial institutions. Banks will now be held to higher expectations, not just in meeting capital adequacy requirements, but in actively investing in governance, cybersecurity, innovation, and climate-risk management.
