The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has warned that cybersecurity has emerged as a major constraint to the expansion of Ghana’s digital financial system, urging financial institutions to strengthen their defences against growing cyber threats.
According to the Bank, the rapid growth and increasing interconnectedness of Ghana’s digital payment ecosystem have created new vulnerabilities that could undermine the gains made in financial inclusion.
Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Matilda Asante-Asiedu, disclosed this at the Distinguished Digital Finance Lecture, where she highlighted the growing importance of cybersecurity to the stability and sustainability of Ghana’s digital finance sector.
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She stated that the same interoperability that has made digital financial services more accessible to millions of Ghanaians has also created a wider attack surface for cybercriminals.
“The very interoperability that makes our system inclusive also makes it a single, attractive target,” she said.
Asante-Asiedu said the Bank of Ghana’s Cyber and Information Security Directive 2026 (CISD 2026) was introduced in response to the rapidly changing cybersecurity environment.
She, however, stressed that the directive would only be effective if financial institutions across the sector were able to fully implement its requirements.
The Second Deputy Governor said cybersecurity must no longer be treated as an issue reserved for large financial institutions but as a fundamental requirement for every entity connected to Ghana’s digital financial ecosystem.
She noted that vulnerabilities in one part of the system could potentially create risks for other interconnected institutions.
Matilda Asante-Asiedu expressed concern about the cybersecurity capacity of smaller and last-mile financial service providers.
She explained that institutions such as smaller financial service providers may not have the financial and technical resources available to larger Tier 1 banks to invest in sophisticated cybersecurity systems.
That disparity, she warned, could create weak points within Ghana’s increasingly interconnected financial system.
“Scale that is not secure is not scale; it is exposure,” she said.
The warning comes as Ghana continues to expand digital payments, mobile money, electronic banking and other technology-driven financial services.
The Bank of Ghana, according to Asante-Asiedu, will extend resources supporting the implementation of CISD 2026 to ensure that cyber resilience becomes a baseline requirement across the financial sector.
She said the support would also cover smaller institutions, including Community Banks, which play an important role in extending financial services to underserved communities.
The objective, she said, is to ensure that the expansion of Ghana’s digital financial ecosystem is matched by stronger protection against cyberattacks.
The BoG’s warning highlights a growing challenge facing Ghana’s digital transformation: ensuring that increased access to financial services does not come at the expense of security.
As more financial institutions and customers become interconnected through digital platforms, the potential impact of cyber incidents could also increase.
The Bank of Ghana is therefore seeking to strengthen cybersecurity standards across the financial system while ensuring that smaller institutions are not left behind.
Asante-Asiedu stressed that Ghana’s digital finance growth must be accompanied by resilience, effective risk management and adequate investment in cybersecurity.
The message from the central bank is clear: digital financial inclusion can only be sustainable if the systems powering it are secure.