Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has urged African financial market stakeholders to place human empowerment at the centre of efforts to develop resilient and inclusive markets.
She said sustainable market growth depended on empowering the people who built, regulated and participated in the financial ecosystem, while preparing the workforce to navigate modern trading systems and technological change.
The Vice President made the call at the close of the two-day 2026 ACI World Congress, organised by ACI Ghana in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana in Accra, held on the theme: “Elevating Markets, Empowering People.”
The congress brought together central bank governors, financial market professionals, policymakers and industry leaders from more than 60 countries to deliberate on strengthening Africa’s financial architecture and deepening international engagement.
Prof Opoku-Agyemang said market systems ultimately depended on people whose decisions and conduct determined integrity and sustainability across the financial value chain.
“The theme for this congress reminds us that markets exist to serve people, mobilise capital, support enterprise, price risk, allocate resources, and create opportunities. To elevate markets, therefore, we must empower the people who build, regulate, participate in, and depend on them,” she said.
The Vice President described Africa’s youthful population, expanding urban centres, increasing digital adoption and entrepreneurial drive as strategic assets requiring sustained investment, particularly in skills development for young people.
She said African economies must build resilient markets grounded in trust, ethics and strong institutions amid global economic pressures, including inflation, high interest rates, sovereign debt distress, geopolitical tensions, climate risks and technological disruption.
“True market resilience requires deep trust, unflinching ethics, and the backing of robust institutions. Without these cultural pillars, technical instruments and liquidity metrics cannot sustain healthy long-term economic growth,” she said.
Prof Opoku-Agyemang also urged financial sector stakeholders to integrate artificial intelligence into their operations, while safeguarding accountability and human responsibility in increasingly automated systems.
She said Ghana was investing in data governance, cyber resilience, local skills development and ethical frameworks to strengthen digital capacity and ensure smaller institutions and emerging markets were not excluded.
Maame Adjoa Thompson, Vice President of ACI Ghana, underscored the importance of education and training in developing technically competent, ethically grounded and globally connected financial market professionals.
She said ACI Ghana would translate insights from the congress into practical initiatives tailored to Africa’s financial markets, while fostering partnerships and actionable solutions to improve the sector.
Source: GNA
