The Ghanaian central bank has recently launched a Regulatory and Innovation Sandbox as a fulfillment of its commitment to continuously promote a conducive regulatory environment that fosters innovation, financial inclusion, and financial stability.
“Following a successful pilot implementation, Bank of Ghana has launched its Regulatory and Innovation Sandbox developed in collaboration with EMTECH Solutions Inc. This is in line with the Bank’s commitment to continuously evolve a conducive regulatory environment that fosters innovation, financial inclusion, and financial stability,” The Central bank stated in a press statement.
The bank added that the sandbox will help the Bank of Ghana (BOG) better understand innovative products while allowing potential improvements to legal and regulatory requirements to encapsulate emerging technologies.
The sandbox, which was created in collaboration with Emtech Solutions Inc. is accessible to all regulated financial institutions in Ghana, according to the bank’s statement. The sandbox environment is also open to unlicensed finance firms with unique solutions that meet regulatory requirements.
Additionally, some of the qualifying innovations include digital financial service technology that is deemed to be new or immature. Also potentially qualifying for the sandbox are disruptive digital financial services products or solutions that attempt to address the persistent financial inclusion challenge.
The central bank’s statement also talked about the digital Ghanaian currency saying it has the potential of boosting innovation in digital financial services.
The statement reported,” Within the domain of Bank of Ghana, the digital version of the Ghanaian currency, the eCedi, has the potential of boosting innovation in digital financial service and further enhancing digitalization of the financial service industry when mainstreamed.”
“On the other end of the digitization spectrum, blockchain appears to hold significant promise for use in mainstreaming financial service delivery though the technology is yet to mature. Nevertheless, the Bank of Ghana took a bold decision and admitted a blockchain solution into its Regulatory and Innovation Sandbox during the pilot stage; further evidence of its commitment to innovation,” the statement further read.