NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EMTECH, an award-winning software company and first-of-its-kind provider of central banking infrastructure, has partnered with SEC Ghana to deploy its API-First Digital Regulatory Sandbox Platform to streamline regulatory sandboxing and supervision of capital market innovation. The company's cutting-edge framework enables the SEC, as well as other regulatory agencies and central banks, to collaborate with emerging fintechs for more effective regulation of innovation.
"EMTECH is delighted to deploy this modern innovation with SEC Ghana,” says EMTECH Founder and CEO Carmelle Cadet. “We heard from both regulators and fintechs in Ghana that multi-regulator collaboration can unlock efficiency, help understand risks better and improve regulatory clarity for the financial ecosystem." We are truly honored to be part of this digitization journey with SEC Ghana. "
EMTECH’s modern infrastructure drives secure and inclusive financial markets throughout Africa and the world. In the throes of the fintech revolution, they provide cutting-edge regulatory frameworks, API sharing, and open data for effective collaboration. Now partnered with SEC Ghana, their Digital Regulatory Sandbox platform will bridge the gaps between regulators and innovators in the financial services space with a developer-friendly design.
"Despite the continent's political and economic challenges, Fintech is thriving in Africa, and the continent's financial services industry requires innovative regulation," says Tunji Odumuboni, Executive Director for Africa at EMTECH. Digitalizing the SEC regulatory sandbox regime is a step in the right direction, considering the current technological and innovative trends and their impact on the capital market and financial services sectors in Ghana and Africa in general.
The SEC will leverage EMTECH's platform to review sandbox applications submitted by FSPs and assess data submitted through the Regulatory Reporting APIs. The framework will enable embedded compliance requirements and automate risk assessment tools while serving as a reliable platform for emerging fintechs to test, ideate, and go to market faster says Paul Ababio Deputy Director-General SEC Ghana.
EMTECH is also testing its Turnkey Digital Regulatory Platform with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), the leading financial services regulators in Nigeria and Liberia, to digitize their Regulatory Sandbox Operations. The API-led regulatory sandbox will permit financial services innovators in these West African countries to plug into different regulatory reporting APIs at the service level and push their market activity data into Regulatory Reporting Dashboards. This will allow regulators to learn more about the market by watching sandbox activities.
By digitizing access to central banking services, starting with the Digital Regulatory Sandbox and Regulatory Reporting APIs, EMTECH’s open platform unlocks exceptional value for both fintechs and regulators. FSPs can start testing Regulatory Reporting APIs on app.emtech.com.
This announcement comes shortly after EMTECH’s groundbreaking partnership with the Bank of Ghana, which marked the first central bank to implement an innovative technology built for multi-regulatory integration for its ecosystem. EMTECH is currently onboarding additional regulators and central banks, as well as several fintechs in the U.S., Africa and the Caribbean.
The firm’s DRP onboarding is especially timely, as experts call for an African-wide regulatory platform that effectively capitalizes on the potential for financial innovation. The continent has recently seen major growth in its fintech sector, which raised about $1.3 billion in investment in 2021. Ghana in particular has been recognized as one of the fastest growing mobile money and fintech markets globally, boasting the third highest mobile payment patronage in the world, according to a circular published in March 2021. Still, consumers and regulators alike are raising concerns about collection practices, protection of user data, and other variables, which is why a reliable regulatory framework that provides checks and balances, as well as support for healthy financial innovation, is paramount to extending financial services to the 57% of unbanked Africans. EMTECH’s DRP – as a pan-African platform – would harmonize national regulation to keep pace with rapid technological progress, allow fintechs to seamlessly operate in various African markets, and afford regular dialogue between central banks and FSPs. If effective, it would not only yield more prosperous financial futures for millions of underserved Africans but also serve as a global model for synchronizing regulation and financial innovation.
About EMTECH
EMTECH develops easy-to-deploy, highly secure, cloud-based software for Central Banks and Regulators to become more innovative, provide financial inclusion and build resilient modern infrastructures. The firm is bringing an API-led model that enables cloud-based solutions to be cost effective while being able to service multiple stakeholders engaged in financial sector development. EMTECH is trusted by central banks already and is actively engaged with over multiple central banks and regulators to enable their digitization journey with Digital Regulatory and Currency Platforms (Risk Monitoring, Sandbox, CBDC).
The EMTECH team brings a wealth of experience in emerging technologies, digital transformation, central banking, regulatory and financial services technologies. With over 35 years of experience from IBM, Federal Reserve Bank, KPMG, West Africa Monetary Institute, Google and Visa.
