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Clara B. Arthur
Chief Executive Officer
Ghana Interbank Payment & Settlement Systems (GhIPSS)
Clara B. Arthur is the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS). She brings over 20 years of experience across banking, fintech, and national payment infrastructure. As CEO, she leads Ghanaʼs national payment system infrastructure, overseeing initiatives that strengthen interoperability, expand digital payment adoption, and advance financial inclusion. Prior to her appointment as CEO, she worked as a digital financial services consultant with global development institutions, including CGAP and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), advising on payment market infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and remittance-linked inclusion strategies. Clara previously served as General Manager for Projects and Business Development at GhIPSS from 2015 to 2019. In that role, she led the implementation of key national payment initiatives, including GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP), the gh-link domestic card scheme EMV migration, Ghanaʼs mobile money interoperability platform and the expansion of the e-zwich agent network. Earlier in her career, she held senior leadership positions at Fidelity Bank Ghana and at eProcess International, the technology subsidiary of Ecobank Group, where she led digital banking projects, card system deployments, and regional switch integrations across multiple African markets.
Clara holds an MSc in Finance and Administration from the University of West London (UK) and a BA in Law and History from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana). She has been recognized among the Top 100 Women in Fintech in Africa.
Speaking at SFF 2026
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2:45–3:15pmWed 18 NovPolicy StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpen
Policy Rewiring
Cross-Border Connectivity: How Regional Blocs are Building Their Own Financial Integration
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Clara B. ArthurChief Executive OfficerGhana Interbank Payment & Settlement Systems (GhIPSS)
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José BeltránBoard ChairNexus Global Payments Ltd
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Yasuto WatanabeChief Executive Officer & DirectorASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO)
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Maha El DimachkiChief Executive Officer, GFTN SolutionsGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
Not every country can build global-scale financial infrastructure alone. Across the world, groups of countries are pooling resources, coordinating oversight, and interlinking systems regionally, choosing collective action over waiting for a single global standard or going it alone.
This panel brings together three different models of that regional playbook. The discussion works through what it takes to build financial cooperation at the bloc level: how these regional mechanisms actually got built, what kept smaller or newer members willing to join in, and where this collective model succeeds — or strains — compared to a single institution building alone. Attendees leave with a practical view of when banding together beats going it alone, and what it costs to make that work. -
