Bank of Ghana partners with EOCO, Cyber Security Authority to tackle illegal lending apps
To address the rise in illegal lending apps the Bank of Ghana (B0G) has said it partnered agencies like the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and Cyber Security Authority (CSA) to share intelligence and coordinate enforcement strategies to establish a robust framework for tackling this growing issue.
The BoG’s Payment Systems Oversight 2024 annual report said that in 2024, a surveillance exercise was conducted across four regions to assess the impact of the new merchant account categorisation guideline issued by the Bank.
The exercise evaluated merchant acceptance of mobile money and other electronic payment channels. Findings indicated a general willingness among
merchants to adopt mobile money and electronic payments.
Large and some medium-sized enterprises were found to be using merchant wallets for transactions, while smaller enterprises without merchant wallets expressed willingness to accept mobile money through personal wallets.
These insights highlighted the growing adoption of digital payment solutions across businesses of varying sizes.
The Bank also conducted investigations into unlicensed Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and unauthorised partnerships and products offered by licensed PSPs. The defaulting institutions were fined and issued cease-and-desist orders to ensure compliance with regulatory standards. In all, five licensed PSPs were fined during the investigations in 2024.
Additionally, the Bank collaborated with Google to ensure all lending apps on the Play Store were approved products, continuing with the efforts initiated in 2023.
