The central banks of Ghana and Nigeria have invited financial innovators to submit applications to join their respective regulatory sandboxes. The Bank of Ghana stated that the sandbox will also support innovations that seek to address the challenges of financial exclusion.
Solving the Challenges of Financial Exclusion
The Bank of Ghana has called on registered financial institutions and unlicensed fintech startups to apply for admission to the regulatory sandbox.In a press statementissued on January 26, the bank said that the process to admit the first cohort of participants will 13 and will conclude on March 14, it said.
According to the Bank of Ghana (BOG), the Sandbox will support innovations that include “new digital business models not currently covered explicitly or implicitly under any regulation.” The Sandbox will also support innovations that seek to address the challenges of financial exclusion and “new and immature digital financial services technologies.”
As reported by Bitcoin.com news, Ghana’s central bank launched the sandbox, developed in collaboration with Emetech Solutions Inc, on August 22, 2022. At the time, the bank positioned the launch of the sandbox as a demonstration of its “commitment to providing an innovation-enabling environment to promote financial inclusion and advance Ghana’s digitization and cash-light agenda.”
According to the press release, prospective participants must submit a complete form, which can be accessed via the link. The statement added that prospective participants will be notified of the outcome of their respective applications “within 21 business days after the closing of the application window on March 14, 2023.”
Meanwhile, BOG’s Nigerian counterpart, the Central Bank of Nigeria, recently announced that its own regulatory sandbox is up and running. The bank said that interested innovative firms can now submit “expressions of interest to participate in the regulatory sandbox to explore new applications of technology and innovation for the benefit of our customers and stakeholders.”
In avideoshared on Twitter, the Central Bank of Nigeria said all entities with innovative financial solutions can apply online.
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