Mobile Money Interoperability Good for ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ – BoG

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, has said the newly launched Mobile Money Interoperability is good for the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda of the Akufo-Addo-led administration.

With this new system, he said the country has been presented with a huge potential for domestic revenue mobilisation in Ghana.

On Thursday May 10, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia launched the Mobile Money Interoperability system in Accra. The service allows direct and seamless transfer of funds from one mobile money wallet to another across all networks and creates convenience for users.

Dr Bawumia lauded the various financial stakeholders for implementing the mobile money interoperability platform.

Speaking at the launch in Accra on Thursday, 10 May 2018, Dr. Bawumia noted that the service will improve domestic revenue mobilisation and ensure the informal sector makes their contribution to the growth of the economy.

According to him, if the country is able to position mobile money well, it will change the fortunes of the economy.

On his part, the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Addison, said: “The development of the financial sector in Ghana is on course, and the payments system is fundamental to this process. Today’s launch started about a decade ago with the establishment of the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), the electronic Central Securities Depository (CSD), the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system and Codeline Cheque Truncation system. All these systems have been working smoothly over the years and today, we are adding another layer to harness the advantages of technology and bring most economic activities into the financial system.

“The Bank’s Strategic Roadmap set out the broad agenda to ensure interoperability between banks and mobile money. Considering the rapid growth in mobile money users in the financial ecosystem, the interoperability objective was in the right direction. The full implementation of the interoperability system is therefore expected to further deepen financial inclusion, promote Ghana’s cash-lite agenda, and most importantly, serve as a viable vehicle for financial intermediation.”

He added: “Presently, the country is witnessing a shift to a new kind of retail banking system where a large segment of the population, previously unbanked, are being absorbed into the financial services sector, via, mobile money. The number of mobile money transactions alone have grown by about 177 percent between 2013 and March 2018, reaching total transactions of 312.93 million and valued at GH¢52.35 billion in March 2018. This compared with 48.24 million transactions valued at GH¢5.91 billion in March 2015.

“Currently, there are 25.3 million mobile money accounts compared with 8.20 million in the same comparative periods. This clearly presents a huge opportunity to bring most of these economically active people into the formal economy; and presents a huge potential for domestic revenue mobilisation in Ghana. Clearly, this is the way to go to support the ‘Africa Beyond Aid’ agenda.”

Source: ClassFMonline