Dr Sam Ankrah, an investment expert and economist, has called for greater transparency, stronger corporate governance and risk-based regulation in Ghana’s microfinance sector, warning that failure to address these issues could undermine investor confidence and delay the sector’s recovery.

Delivering the keynote address at the International Microfinance Investors’ Summit 2026 in Accra under the theme “Repositioning African Microfinance for Growth and Stability,” Dr Ankrah urged regulators to publish aggregated data on the recapitalisation of microfinance institutions to provide clarity to investors and reassure the market.

His call comes at a time when Ghana continues efforts to rebuild confidence in the financial sector following the banking and specialised deposit-taking institutions clean-up, while improving access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which remain the backbone of the country’s economy.

Dr Ankrah observed that although microfinance institutions were required to declare their recapitalisation plans by June 30, 2024, there was no publicly available information indicating how many institutions had complied.

“Investors cannot price a consolidation they cannot see,” he said, stressing that publishing anonymised, aggregated recapitalisation data would distinguish orderly consolidation from institutional failure and encourage investment into the sector.

He argued that transparency was one of the least costly but most effective reforms regulators could implement to restore confidence.

Reflecting on Ghana’s financial sector reforms, including the revocation of hundreds of licences during the 2019 clean-up exercise, Dr Ankrah maintained that poor governance, rather than inadequate minimum capital, had been the principal cause of institutional failures.

“None of those institutions failed because the minimum capital was too low. They failed because nobody with authority was willing or able to say no to the man who owned the building,” he said.

He therefore welcomed Ghana’s recently introduced ownership limits for shareholders in regulated institutions, describing them as an important step towards reducing related-party lending, excessive owner influence and weak board oversight.

Turning to financial inclusion, Dr Ankrah said Africa’s informal economy remained central to economic growth, accounting for more than 90 per cent of employment across much of West and Central Africa.

He noted that despite the sector’s importance, Sub-Saharan Africa continued to face an estimated US$331 billion financing gap for small businesses, warning that limited access to credit constrained entrepreneurship, job creation and economic expansion.

“The informal economy is not a small part of the map. It is the map,” he stated, adding that strengthening responsible microfinance was critical to unlocking the continent’s growth potential.

While acknowledging Africa’s global leadership in digital financial services, particularly mobile money, Dr Ankrah cautioned that technology alone could not resolve institutional weaknesses.

According to him, digital transformation only amplifies the quality of an institution’s governance and risk management systems.

“A badly governed institution that digitises simply makes bad loans faster and at greater scale,” he said.

He also highlighted the gap between global investment capital and Africa’s microfinance sector, noting that only a small fraction of impact investment directed at Sub-Saharan Africa found its way into microfinance.

The challenge, he explained, was not the absence of capital but the shortage of institutions meeting international investment standards.

He cited weak corporate governance, delayed audited financial statements, inadequate management information systems and limited board independence as major concerns raised by international fund managers.

To strengthen the sector, Dr Ankrah urged regulators to shift from compliance-driven supervision to a more risk-based approach that identifies emerging vulnerabilities before they become systemic threats.

He further stressed that supervisory capacity must expand alongside the growth of the industry to ensure effective oversight of larger and more complex institutions.

As part of long-term reforms, Dr Ankrah proposed the establishment of a pooled African microfinance investment facility built on common governance and reporting standards to attract larger international investors seeking scalable opportunities across the continent.

“We are not choosing between stability and inclusion. A sector that collapses is not inclusive, and a sector that excludes is not stable,” he said.

He urged policymakers, regulators, investors and industry leaders to work together to build a transparent, resilient and investment-ready microfinance sector capable of supporting Ghana’s economic transformation and expanding access to finance for businesses.