Ghana’s digital finance industry has called for the creation of a centralised command centre to coordinate the fight against fraud across mobile money platforms, banks, and payment service providers, warning that the country’s current fragmented approach is no longer adequate against a rapidly evolving criminal landscape.
The proposal emerged as the key outcome of the maiden Fintech Partner Exchange organised by MobileMoney Fintech Limited (MMFL), an MTN Ghana subsidiary that became the nation’s mobile money operator following a statutory merger completed on March 31, 2026. The forum, held in Accra on Thursday, April 2, brought together banks, fintech companies, telecom operators and law enforcement agencies under the theme “Uniting Against Fraud: Strengthening Ecosystem Collaboration.”
The case for coordination
Chief Executive Officer of MMFL Shaibu Haruna told participants that fraud in the sector had evolved from isolated incidents into an organised network, requiring more robust and coordinated technology-driven solutions. “It is not a Mobile Money fraud issue; this is a digital crime environment. The attack points have changed, it touches the entire ecosystem so we need to have a much broader approach to deal with this issue,” he said.
He disclosed that MMFL processed approximately 8.4 billion transactions in 2025, an 18 percent year-on-year increase, with an average of 23 million transactions daily, underlining the scale of the platform’s exposure.
Stakeholders agreed that the current system, where institutions operate largely in silos, enables fraudsters to move stolen funds across multiple accounts and platforms within seconds before any coordinated response can be mounted. Participants agreed to develop a framework within 90 days to guide the establishment and operation of the proposed command centre.
Weak links and law enforcement gaps
The Head of Forensic Services at Stanbic Bank Ghana, Stephen Tefeh, identified the interface between bank accounts and mobile money wallets as a particularly vulnerable point. “One of the weakest points has been the movement from bank accounts to mobile money wallets. Many incidents involve customer credentials being compromised,” he said.
Ebenezer Boffour, Head of Internal Affairs at Hubtel, stressed that technology alone cannot plug the gap when users have already been socially engineered. “Whatever controls you put between systems, once the person has been compromised, the transaction will go through,” he noted.
The Director of Cybercrime at the Ghana Police Service Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Emmanuel Eric Gyebi, said fraud cases involving mobile money, SIM swaps, and account takeovers had surged since the COVID-19 pandemic. He pointed to legal and procedural delays in accessing transaction data as a major bottleneck. “By the time the processes are completed, the funds may have been moved. We need faster and more flexible intelligence sharing systems,” he said.
Trust at the heart of the issue
Chief Financial Officer of MMFL Susan Yawson framed fraud as fundamentally a matter of trust. “Fraud is not just a risk issue, it is a trust issue. If we do not address it collectively, it will undermine everything we are building,” she said.
Clara Arthur, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), expressed the institution’s commitment to leading efforts against fraud, warning that fraudulent activities erode trust and undermine progress on financial inclusion.
The forum also highlighted the need for sustained public education alongside institutional measures, with participants warning that consumers remain the weakest link as long as social engineering tactics continue to be the primary entry point for fraudsters.
