Clara B. Arthur, the CEO of Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlements Systems (GhIPSS), has hinted that her organisation will spearhead a cooperative, multi-layered strategy to improve cybersecurity within the financial and digital finance ecosystem in order to guarantee better outcomes in the battle against cyber fraud.
In order to find a method to balance innovation, regulation, and public-private sector partnership to traverse the present cybersecurity landscape, she made the statement during the Payments Industry Cybersecurity Summit 2025, which was jointly organised by the Bank of Ghana and the multinational payment card giant VISA.
Summit Objectives and Focus
The summit also aimed to develop methods for developing future-proof cyber-defense systems throughout Ghana’s whole financial sector ecosystem, especially in light of increasingly complex emergent threats powered by generative AI. The importance of creating strong frameworks, guaranteeing ongoing training to stay current on the newest threats and defences, and incorporating cybersecurity into the larger business plan were all covered in a panel discussion.
Cooperation Challenges and Underreporting
During that panel discussion, Clara Arthur pointed out that the lack of cooperation between players and regulators in the area of cybersecurity is one of the difficulties Ghana’s financial ecosystem faces in combating cyber crime. She claims that because players do not fully understand the restrictions, they frequently fail to notify the regulator of cyber fraud occurrences because they believe doing so will expose them to legal repercussions. The CEO of GhIPSS added that the participants are frequently left on their own to look into and resolve issues because the regulator has not performed well when it comes to investigating cyber fraud instances.
GhIPSS Strategy and Collaborative Plans
“But all that is about to change because we recently finished our strategy session at GhIPSS and we are coming up with strategies to drive real collaboration between the Bank of Ghana and GhIPSS on the one hand, and the roughly 100 participants on GhIPSS’s platforms and even partners like VISA and the Cybersecurity Authority (CSA) on the other, to build a unified system to fight cyber fraud in a more concerted manner,” she stated. According to Clara Arthur, it’s crucial to use the knowledge and experience of institutions like VISA to offer advanced training on how to recognise and address emerging threats through innovation powered by AI and other pertinent technologies.
Preparedness, Standards, and Monitoring
According to her, GhIPSS will think about implementing the VISA cybersecurity preparedness classification system as part of the plan to bring all stakeholders up to speed, especially the financial institutions, fintechs, and telcos on the GhIPSS platforms, so that everyone will be motivated to strive for a higher level. “We also think there can never be too much monitoring, so we will continue to regularly monitor each player to make sure that everyone in the ecosystem is always ready to pick up early warning signs and nib it in the bud before it results in a fully fledged fraud,” she stated.
Inclusive Payments and Investment in Skills
In fact, this is consistent with Clara Arthur’s recent statement at the State of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems (SIIPS) in Africa Report launch in Eswatini that she is leading GhIPSS to ensure that Ghana’s payment system reaches the mature inclusivity stage by ensuring that customers are fully protected end-to-end. She claims that GhIPSS has already begun discussions with VISA on how to invest in the right tools and the right skill sets to ensure that providing cybersecurity across the financial sector value chain is as instantaneous as digital finance promises.
Standards Migration and Multi-layered Defence
During same event, she also declared that Ghana’s payments system would be switching from ISO 8583 standards to ISO 20022 standards in order to provide better messaging and customer recourse solutions that automatically offer clients rapid dispute resolution. According to her, the effort to create a cohesive cybersecurity system for the ecosystem also guarantees a multi-layered defence against cyberattacks, which frequently result in significant financial losses for people, organisations, and the government.
Regulatory Engagement and Industry Role
The Bank of Ghana’s Acting Director of Information Security, Daniel Klu, also noted that because financial institutions did not actively participate in the development of cybersecurity regulations for the industry, the regulator seems to be at a distance from the industry, and the industry does not seem to have a clear direction on what to do, they try to strengthen their own resilience. He claims that by ensuring regulators’ freedom to foster collaboration among stakeholders, the objective moving forward is to bridge the gap between the innovations and technology employed by the industry and the regulatory environment.
Using third parties, giving a clear direction, and being flexible with the industry are all important aspects of the new legislation, he stated. “We understand that industry will always be ahead of regulations, so we will have issues if we do not encourage industry to contribute to the way forward.” In order to ensure that the gap between industry and regulation is closed and the entire ecosystem is better protected, Mr. Klu urged industry to open up to the regulator and foster collaboration, even at the level of technology role out, rather than becoming fixated on resilience and underreporting.
Collective Approach and Visa’s Contribution
As “the only way we will be able to win the fight against cyber fraud given the sophistication of the emerging cyber threats,” he thinks that by working together, the ecosystem would always be “a 100 fold ahead of cyber fraudsters.” Vice President of Applied Cryptography at Visa, Adam Clark, outlined five main ways that Visa can help Ghanaian financial institutions create efficient cybersecurity solutions. Investing in cyber resilience is crucial, he said, adding that developing skills to combat cyber threats is also essential to winning the battle. Visa can help in this area through their three-tiered cybersecurity training institute.
Future-proofing Against Advanced Threats
Adam Clark also underlined the necessity for financial institutions to develop cybersecurity systems that are future-proof, especially in the age of quantum and generative AI, where fraudsters may easily outsmart inadequate safeguards. He asserts that it is crucial for institutions to collaborate with important stakeholders in order to take use of intelligence and industry knowledge, especially when it comes to making sure that sophisticated threats are stopped, identified, and automatically contained in real time.Read more on Africa Builds a Unified Foundation for AI and Quantum Computing
