Across Africa, the cost of cybercrime is estimated to exceed $4bn annually – 1st Dep. Governor
Cybercrime Africa
Williams
First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Zakari Mumuni, has said that cybercrime is not a distant risk; it is a present danger.
In 2022, he said, Ghana alone recorded over 21,000 cyber fraud attempts in the financial sector, most targeting digital platforms.
Citing Interpol as a source, he said across Africa, the cost of cybercrime is estimated to exceed $4 billion annually.
“This reality underscores a simple truth: financial inclusion without system integrity is unsustainable. Cybersecurity is no longer an IT issue, it is a strategic imperative at the core of financial governance. Public trust, institutional confidence, and systemic stability now hinge on our ability to anticipate, withstand, and respond to cyber risks,” he said at the 14th AFI leaders’ roundtable discussion on the theme “Strengthening cyber resilience in digital financial services in Africa.”
Dr Zkarai stated that the Bank of Ghana has long recognised this imperative. In 2018, we issued one of the continent’s earliest Cyber and Information Security Directives for financial institutions, mandating risk-based frameworks, incident response protocols, and regulatory reporting.
“Today, over 40 financial institutions are integrated into our Financial Industry Security Operations Centre (FINSOC), enabling real-time threat detection and response,” he said.
He stated that the BoG conducts annual cybersecurity maturity assessments, using international frameworks like NIST and COBIT-5, to inform supervisory action and identify systemic gaps. In 2024, over 40% of assessed entities showed critical vulnerabilities particularly in access control and incident response.
“We are addressing these gaps with targeted interventions. Critically, we are not acting alone. We continue to work closely with Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority, the World Bank, INTERPOL, and the Africa Cybersecurity Resource Centre to bolster expertise and coordinate responses at scale,” he said.
