Hayford Kumah

Speaker Bio

HAYFORD KUMAH is the Head of the FinTech Oversight and Supervision Unit at the FinTech and Innovation Office of the Bank of Ghana (BoG). He has over a decade and half experience working as a financial service regulator in the banking, non-bank and fintech subsectors, and has worked as a Bank Examiner and IS Auditor assessing different scales of financial service providers in Ghana.

Hayford’s current workstream involves leading the supervision of payment service providers, electronic money issuers and other technology-based financial companies licensed by BoG to promote a sustainable, safe and efficient payments ecosystem. His role includes formulating and implementing risk-proportionate supervisory frameworks and policies that balance financial stability with innovation and financial inclusion. In this capacity, he has been a keen contributor to the balanced supervisory approach of the BoG which has resulted in Ghana being ranked #1 per the 2024 GSMA Mobile Money Regulatory Index.

Hayford has previously held the role of Senior Accountant in a regional monetary institute in Africa, with additional responsibility as Project Accountant and Financial Sector Expert for the Afreximbank-funded Payments System project across 4 West African countries; the AfDB-funded WAMZ Debt and Capital Market projects, and an ECOWAS-funded Accounting Frameworks Harmonisation project.

He holds BSc. Telecommunications Engineering and MBA Finance, and is a PhD Candidate with a focus on the inter-relationships between Innovation, Regulation and Strategy for fintech firms. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds certifications in information systems audit, innovation, sustainability and data analytics, as well as an Advanced Certificate in Digital Finance from Harvard University.

Hayford also facilitates training sessions for board members and senior managers of fintechs, banks, and other financial institutions and speaks at various local and international programmes in personal and official capacities.