Stakeholders working in the fintech space have underscored the need to adopt a unified approach, bringing together banks, mobile money operators, law enforcement agencies among others, to tackle cyber fraud.
Speaking at the Fintech Partners Exchange forum organised by MobileMoney Fintech LTD’s in Accra on April 2, they said that would not only help to address cyber fraud, but also strengthen trust in the digital finance ecosystem.
The participants used the forum to outline practical steps for reducing fraud, while pushing for stronger collaboration to protect trust in digital finance.
The event was on the theme, “Leading Fintech Solutions for our collective progress”.
Shift
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MobileMoney Fintech Ltd, Shaibu Haruna, stated that there was shift in the nature of fraud as more fintech solutions emeged.
A section of participants
He said the problem extended beyond mobile money platforms, adding, “It’s a digital crime environment and it can affect a bank, a fintech partner or mobile money”.
Mr Haruna described MobileMoney Fintech as critical national infrastructure that supported digital inclusion and national economic prosperity.
Addressing the challenge of fraud within the ecosystem, the CEO said, his outfit had invested in customer education and system resilience.
He said the company had secured the required approvals to operate as MobileMoney Fintech Ltd, stressing that the change would not affect customer channels or the user experience.
Looking ahead to 2026, Mr Haruna outlined four priority pillars to drive inclusion and stability.
They are financial inclusion, system stability and risk governance (including leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) for fraud monitoring and reinforcing compliance), ecosystem partnership (accelerating the “one voice” agenda and building frameworks to support it), and sustainable commercial models with transparent pricing.
Bank of Ghana
The Head of Fintech and Innovation at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Owireku Asare, stressed that fraud prevention should be elevated into boardroom and policy conversations.
“We want the level of fraud to be the heartbeat of what is happening in meetings and boardroom conversations,” he said, praising the contribution of mobile money to Ghana’s financial landscape.
“We are at a point where we need to protect what we have built together,” Mr Asare said, adding that the BoG was actively engaging stakeholders and inviting the industry to work together to safeguard the ecosystem.
Other issues
During a panel discussion, the Head of Forensic Services at the Stanbic Bank, Stephen Tef, pointed to a shift in leakage from bank accounts into mobile wallets, often driven by social engineering that compromised customer credentials.
To address that, he said there was the need for constant education through customer messaging and warnings about One-Time Pins (OTPs) and scams.
Ebenezer Boffour, who oversees transaction risk at Hubtel, outlined operational measures his company uses to interrupt social-engineering-driven transfers.
They include holding suspicious transactions and contacting senders to verify intent.
While effective for individual cases, Mr Baffour said those responses were not scalable.
“Rapid blocking often depends on being able to call a contact directly rather than waiting for slow email processes,” he said, and called for more collaboration in the fight against cyber fraud.
The Director of Cybercrime at the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Emmanuel Gyebi, called fraud “a shared fight” and urged deeper collaboration, beginning with the training of cyber investigators and digital forensic examiners.
He disclosed that the country hosted one of the region’s stronger digital forensic laboratories, but described persistent bottlenecks around information sharing.
“Prosecution looks after the interests of the state, but victims’ interests are also at stake,” C/Supt. Gyebi said, pointing to legal and operational barriers that delayed access to sensitive data.
The Director of Cybercrime of the Police Service urged improved inter-agency cooperation and faster channels to stop fraud and recover funds when possible.
The Board Chairman of the Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana, Joshua Edmondson, warned of the human cost of delays.
He said agents often operated on tight margins or borrowed money. As a result, when transactions were blocked or lines suspended, they faced immediate financial strain.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh