First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Zakari Mumuni, has stressed that the future of financial inclusion in Africa depends not just on access, but on cybersecurity and system integrity.
According to him, digital financial services can only thrive if institutions are equipped to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats in real time.
Speaking at the 14th AFI Leaders’ Roundtable on the theme “Strengthening Cyber Resilience in Digital Financial Services in Africa,” Dr. Mumuni outlined a number of interventions Ghana has undertaken to reinforce its digital financial systems against emerging threats.
“This reality underscores a simple truth: financial inclusion without system integrity is unsustainable. Cybersecurity is no longer an IT issue, it is a strategic imperative at the core of financial governance,” he said.
He emphasised that public trust, institutional confidence, and systemic stability all now depend on the ability to withstand and respond to cyber risks.
Dr. Mumuni revealed that Ghana had been proactive in building a regulatory foundation to tackle these threats.
“In 2018, we issued one of the continent’s earliest Cyber and Information Security Directives for financial institutions, mandating risk-based frameworks, incident response protocols, and regulatory reporting.”
He also highlighted the creation of the Financial Industry Security Operations Centre (FINSOC), which now integrates over 40 financial institutions, providing real-time threat detection and coordinated response capabilities.
“We conduct annual cybersecurity maturity assessments using international frameworks like NIST and COBIT-5 to inform supervisory action and identify systemic gaps,” he added.
The 2024 assessments revealed alarming statistics: over 40% of financial institutions exhibited critical vulnerabilities, especially in access control and incident response.
“We are addressing these gaps with targeted interventions,” Dr. Mumuni assured the forum.
