Ghana government urged to create enabling environment for financial inclusion
An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expert, Mr Richard Frimpong, Friday urged the Ghana government to create an enabling environment to allow companies to come up with applications that will help drive financial inclusion.
Financial inclusion comprises efforts to make financial products and services accessible and affordable to all individuals and businesses, regardless of their personal net worth or company size.
Mr Frimpong, the Head of Business and Customer Relations, Grey Patriot IO Limited, a software developing firm, said this in his presentation at the maiden face-to-face meet-up networking event on Artificial Intelligence (AI), organised by the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT (GI-KACE) in Accra.
AI is the ability of a computer, or a robot controlled by a computer, to do tasks that are usually done by humans because they require human intelligence and discernment.
The AI Knowledge Series Forum brought together students, innovators, financial service users, enthusiastic stakeholders and industry practitioners to support the community-building efforts of the AI ecosystem in Ghana.
Speaking on the topic “Artificial Intelligence and Financial Inclusion”, Mr Frimpong said financial inclusion was a priority because it created a level playground for individuals/organisations to access financial services.
Touching on the country’s performance, he said the National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy from the Ministry of Finance showed that 42 per cent of the population lacked access to financial services.
He, therefore, appealed to the Government to endeavour to remove all barriers that hindered people from getting access to financial inclusion.
Regarding the AI, he noted that it was an intelligent entity created by humans capable of performing tasks intelligently without being explicitly instructed, stating that it was applicable to all sectors of the economy such as health, transport, manufacturing, and finance.
He noted that the country stands to benefit a lot when the agenda of promoting AI in all sectors of the economy was adhered to.
Mr Frimpong said data obtained from census and other government programmes could be fed into AI models to be able to determine areas not benefitting from financial inclusion and prioritise those areas.
He said banks and fintech companies could leverage AI to analyze the cash flow and financial history of their users and be able to give them services such as credit or loans to be able to get affordable healthcare and buy insurance.
The event focusses on impacting financial services and inclusion, since it is the leading innovation programme targeted at achieving developmental goals.
The AI Knowledge Series was organised in partnership with the Institute of ICT Professionals GH, AI Association Ghana, Runmila AI Institute, GIZ, DTC and Fair Forward.
Source: GNA