Accra, Ghana//-Stakeholders in Ghana’s financial technology (fintech) industry have called for a strong collaboration to enable the country’s upcoming electronic Cedi (eCedi) work.
According to them, with strong collaboration all stakeholders in the fintech space would contribute their quota to the smooth implementation of the eCedi or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) being piloted by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The stakeholders comprising MobileMoney Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Scancom PLC, operators of MTN Ghana; IT Consortium; and Cal Bank Ghana made the call at this year’s Mobile Money (MoMo) Stakeholder Forum held in Accra, yesterday.
The forum themed: ‘Assessing the Impact of the Central Bank’s Digital Currency on the Future of Digital Payments’, is part of activities to mark this year’s MoMo month.
Speaking at the forum, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MobileMoney Limited, Eli Hini noted that after transitioning through various forms of transactions in digital payments, it is important that other opportunities that are yet to be explored are tapped for their full benefits of all.
He therefore called on all stakeholders to discuss the eCedi to ensure its successful merger with the existing digital payment platforms in the country.
Benefits
The eCedi, the CEO noted would improve in the speed of liquidation of money while promoting security.
Other benefits of the eCedi are to improve access to liquidity, enhance the efficiency of interoperability, boost payment efficiency, reduce transaction costs, promote trust in digital payments, lead to improvement in fraud management, and help scale up innovations in the digital financial sector.
Mr Hini however pointed out: “In all these engagements there are always potential risks. We need to recognize them and ensure there are mitigations to support the implementation”.
The CBDC which is a tokenized, digital representation of a sovereign currency, according to Mr Hini is new area and it is therefore for important all stakeholders to “take advantage of the opportunities of this form of currency”.
The eCedi and other central bank digital currencies are becoming vital tools all over the world due to the opportunities they offer for clearing and settlements, domestic transfer, cross-border value transactions, among others.
The Head of Digital Banking at Cal Bank Ghana, Madam Martha Acquaye added the eCedi when fully rolled out would create big convenience for customers and reduce the risk of carrying bulk cash around for transaction.
In her own words: “We believe strongly that we were the right party for the pilot. We have deployed the eCedi on our App. The central bank has done a good job”.
Make customer data protection a top priority
For the CEO of IT Consortium, Romeo Bugyei used the occasion to the BoG to make protecting customer data as a top priority during the implementation of the eCedi.
According to him, the rollout of the eCedi is exciting news for players in the fintech industry in spite of the challenges.
“For us in the fintech sector, this is an exciting time for us…We should not be worried about challenges but focus on the opportunities to build businesses around them. We need to plan ahead and come up with solutions”.
eCedi is not coming to take over from Mobile Money
Speaking at the forum, the Assistant Director of FINTECH & Innovation Office of the BoG, Clarence Blay, assured that the eCedi is not coming to take over from Mobile Money but rather improve it and other digital payments in the country.
So he encouraged all stakeholders to give their maximum support and commitment to promoting the development of the country’s eCedi project.
Mr Blay was quick to add that the eCedi is coming to build on the gains made in the mode than two decade digital payments sector by promoting inclusiveness, positive disruption to the financial service landscape, leveraging the capabilities of FSPs, user-centric design, complementarity, among others,
“We have reloaded that the entities we are regulating are doing a wonderful job and we believe it is import we push them. We cannot just leave them to do everything. We have to be actively involved to deal with the inefficiencies.
“We are going to work with our partners to make the eCedi available on various platforms to make it available to everyone. No one will be left out”.
African Eye Report