Bank of Ghana partners with EMTECH for CBDC sandbox

EMTECH, a first-of-its-kind fintech for central banks,with a presence in Africa, has partnered with the Central Bank of Ghana to deploy its Modern Central Bank Sandbox Platform™.  The partnership with the Bank of Ghana will leverage EMTECH’s software to test innovative solutions, including blockchain, while accelerating their time to market. This approach promotes new products and services, bridging the gap for unbanked and underbanked, and creates new pathways for the efficient and secure movement of money for individuals and organizations.

"EMTECH is proud to partner with the Bank of Ghana on its digital transformation journey, and I believe that our partnership establishes a template that other regulators and stakeholders can embrace as together we test and deploy the inclusive, robust central banking infrastructure of tomorrow. This is also a great opportunity for fintechs looking to engage as they aim to go to market,” said EMTECH founder and CEO Carmelle Cadet.

The Bank of Ghana said in its announcement that the sandbox will be available to banks, specialised deposit-taking institutions and payment service providers including dedicated electronic money issuers, as well as unregulated entities and persons that have innovations that meet the sandbox requirements. “EMTECH’s solution introduces process improvements to assist Central Banks in meeting their stated and implied strategic goals while enhancing timely, yet prudentially responsible, implementation,” EMTECH’s Chief Risk Officer, Diane Maurice, said.

Innovations eligible for the Bank of Ghana sandbox environment consider the following broad categories:

• New digital business models not currently covered explicitly or implicitly under any regulation
• New and immature digital financial service technology
• Innovative digital financial services products that have the potential for addressing persistent financial and economic inclusion challenges

“The Bank of Ghana through this project, would like to reaffirm its commitment to addressing the financial inclusion needs of the unbanked and underserved persons and businesses,” according to the statement issued by the Bank of Ghana announcing its partnership with EMTECH.

Recently as well EMTECH also announced its partnership with Wipay Caribbean.