Mobile Money Interoperability: Over 3,000 Transactions on First Day- GHiPSS

The newly built mobile money interoperability platform had about 3,000 transactions the first day it was launched by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on May 10, 2018.

This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHiPSS), Archie Hesse, on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday.

“I am quite happy to share the volumes with you. If I remember correctly the first the day we launched it, that day, in particular, we had over 3,000 transactions that went through the switch,” he said.

Mr. Hesse also noted that the figure ever since then has been increasing at a geometrical rate.

In January 2017, the issue of mobile money interoperability came to the fore when telecom operators kicked against moves by the central bank to impose a third-party company to implement the interoperability at a cost of GHc4.6 billion.

Following agitations, government abrogated the contract and challenged GHiPSS to make mobile money interoperability possible.

$4.5 million Used

Mr. Hesse in the interview also stated that a loan of 4.5 million dollars from the Bank of Ghana was used to implement the mobile money interoperability project.

According to him, the BoG gave the funds to the company with set benchmarks for the next five years to enable GHIPSS pay back the loans.

The clarification comes after the NDC claimed it had a much-sophisticated plan that accounted for GHc4.5 billion of the budget for the interoperability system.

Dr. Bawumia launched the first phase of the mobile money interoperability system on on May 10. According to Mr. Hesse, GhIPSS is working on the second phase of the project which includes bringing on board the e-zwich platform in the next two months.

The mobile money interoperability, which will be managed by the GhIPSS, will enhance financial inclusion as the country’s payment system is formalized to make electronic payments easier.

The phase one of the interoperability allows mobile customers to move money from their mobile money accounts to bank accounts and vice versa as well as from one mobile money platform to the other.