Cybersecurity Must Be Central to Financial Governance – BoG’s Dr. Zakari Mumuni

The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Zakari Mumuni, has stressed the urgent need to prioritize cybersecurity as a key pillar of financial governance, warning that Africa loses approximately US$4 billion annually to cyber fraud.

Speaking at the 2025 Africa Financial Inclusion Policy Initiative (AfPI) roundtable in Accra, Dr. Mumuni highlighted the increasing threat of cybercrime to the continent’s digital financial ecosystem. The event, co-hosted by the Bank of Ghana and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), was themed “Strengthening Cyber Resilience in Digital Financial Services in Africa: The Role of Financial Regulators.”

“Cybercrime is not a distant threat—it is a present and pressing danger,” Dr. Mumuni declared. “In 2022 alone, Ghana recorded over 21,000 cyber fraud attempts in the financial sector, many of which targeted digital platforms.”

Referencing data from INTERPOL, he revealed that cybercrime costs Africa over $4 billion every year, a figure that underscores the vulnerability of the continent’s financial infrastructure.

“Cybersecurity is no longer a back-office IT function. It is a strategic imperative at the heart of financial governance,” he stressed, adding that financial inclusion without system integrity is unsustainable.

The forum’s central message aligned with Dr. Mumuni’s call for urgent reforms: that the success of digital financial services hinges on the strength of their cybersecurity frameworks.

Echoing this concern, AFI CEO Dr. Alfred Hannig emphasized the importance of protecting the digitally connected poor from cyber vulnerabilities.

“Digitalization has made financial services more accessible, affordable, and widespread,” he noted. “But these benefits come with risks. If not addressed, poor individuals—who often have the least security—could lose everything in a day.”

Dr. Hannig urged regulators to ensure that technological advancement does not come at the expense of the vulnerable, warning that weak digital security could reverse hard-won gains in financial inclusion.

The 14th Annual AfPI Roundtable brought together financial regulators and policymakers from across Africa to exchange ideas, assess policy frameworks, and propose solutions to growing cybersecurity threats in the financial sector.

With cyberattacks on the rise amid rapid digital adoption, the conference concluded with a shared understanding that a coordinated, proactive, and inclusive cybersecurity strategy is critical to safeguarding Africa’s financial future.