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Obinne: Africa needs robust payment system to fight fraud

Emmanuel Obinne, an expert in technology, says an effective payment system will stop fraudsters from taking advantage of loopholes in the system

The West Africa Head of Growth and Partnerships at BPC Banking Technologies, Emmanuel Obinne, is advocating for a robust payment system for trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

According to him, the call is crucial in averting any attempt by fraudsters to take advantage of loopholes in the various payment systems.

He was speaking in an interview on the new approach by fraudsters in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am actually excited about the Free Trade Area being set up and here we are talking about multi country trading and this will lead to an increase in the volume of digital payments obviously.

“Now because nations are involved in these transactions, I believe that the setting up of business-to-business market places operated by the governments among these countries whereby those who are trading under the platforms are brought under one eco system are averted just as Alibaba, … so you can protect the buyer and seller,” Obinne said.

He also cited lack of adequate fraud management solutions as one of three loopholes being explored by fraudsters to perpetrate their crime.

“It is logical that you will ordinarily expect that fraud should be dropping but we need to realise that fraudsters are notoriously innovative and they advance even as technology advances and I don’t believe they go to rest,” he said.

He added: “They continue to look for loopholes that they can exploit to perpetuate fraud so this innovation that they employ coupled with loopholes, coupled with loopholes wherein we have insiders (employees) who connive with outsiders to perpetuate fraud, the lack of adequate management solutions to detect and prevent fraud in organisations and exploiting of low level of customer educations lead to the continuous incident of fraud.”

According to Lexis Nexis, the global payments market is estimated to be worth $2trillion by 2025, but it is also expected to lose up to $200 billion due to fraud over the next five years.

Huge continental market

On 17 August last year, President Akufo-Addo commissioned and handed over a fully furnished African Continental Free Trade Area secretariat headquarters to the chair of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the AfCFTA secretary general, Wamkele Mene, in Accra.

The Commission will administer the free trade agreement, which has created a single market of 55 members with a combined population of over 1.2 billion and a total gross domestic product of roughly US$2.5 trillion.

All 54 sovereign nation states of Africa have signed the agreement and 30, including Ghana, have ratified the deal

Fred Dzakpata

Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
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