Ghana is positioning itself as a hub for the next phase of financial market innovation in emerging economies, with the country betting that digital payments, tighter fintech regulation and regional integration can help reshape Africa’s financial architecture.

Speaking at the ACI FMA World Congress in Accra on Thursday, Johnson Pandit Asiama said emerging markets were no longer merely adopting financial systems designed in advanced economies but increasingly creating frameworks of their own.

“Financial markets are being reshaped in real time,” Asiama told delegates at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City Accra. “They are becoming more digital, more connected, and more shaped by emerging economies than they have ever been.”

The remarks underscore Ghana’s attempt to project stability and technological ambition after one of the most turbulent periods in its recent economic history, during which inflation surged above 54% in 2022 and the country restructured debt under an IMF-backed recovery programme.

Asiama said inflation had fallen to 3.4% in April 2026, while foreign reserves had climbed above $13.9 billion, equivalent to more than five months of import cover. He added that the central bank had cut its policy rate by 1,400 basis points since early 2025 as macroeconomic conditions improved.

“Macroeconomic stability is not only good for financial market development,” he said. “It is the infrastructure on which financial market development becomes possible.”

The Bank of Ghana governor framed digital payments infrastructure as central to the country’s broader financial ambitions, pointing to interoperable mobile money systems, instant transfers and QR-code payment networks developed through the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems.

He also said Ghana’s e-Cedi central bank digital currency project had completed its pilot phase and was now being designed for potential use in cross-border settlement and wholesale payments.

The speech highlighted how African economies are increasingly seeking to build regional financial systems capable of competing globally, amid rapid growth in fintech adoption across the continent.

Asiama said Ghana was working with regional partners on harmonised payment rails and licence passporting systems that could allow fintech firms licensed in one African country to operate more easily in another.

“A payment initiated in Accra should clear in Abidjan or Lagos as easily as it clears in Kumasi,” he said.

The central bank chief also defended stronger oversight of digital finance, arguing that regulation was necessary to build trust and scale in emerging financial markets.

He cited Ghana’s Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, passed in 2025, as part of efforts to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets and fintech activity.

“Markets that lack credible regulatory architecture do not innovate faster,” Asiama said. “They fragment, they fail, and they erode the trust on which the next wave of innovation depends.”

The ACI FMA World Congress brought together central bankers, financial market executives and policymakers at a time when several African economies are accelerating investment in digital payments infrastructure and cross-border financial integration.