Accra, Ghana//-Panelists at this year’s Mobile Money (MoMo) Stakeholder Forum have called for increase inclusivity in digital payments space to rope in more people to speed up the country’s cashless economy agenda.
According to the panelists drawn from the fintech, banking, and technology industries as the regulatory environment, increasing inclusivity would also attract more investments to that space.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Digitizing Payment in Ghana – A Collaborative Effort for Success’, Eli Hini, the Chief Executive Officer of MobileMoney Limited, mobile financial subsidiary of MTN Ghana, said: “The drive to develop “cashless economies” has been the trend among policymakers, not only in Ghana but worldwide to move the economies of the world to a digital and information enabled paradigm”.
Overview of digital payments
“Ghana’s payment system has improved significantly since 1997 when the MICR cheques were introduced, and continues to evolve to meet the developmental needs of the country”, he quoted the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to buttress his argument.
Mr Hini whose company has been organising the annual MoMo Stakeholder Forum for the past nine years as part of the company’s annual MoMo Month in August, noted that the government’s national policy commitment, BoG’s flexible regulatory environment, advent and growth of Mobile Money Service market, strong and growing local ICT/Fintech Industry, and growth of telecom industry are the major enablers of the rise of digital payments market in the country.
While the digital payment channels in the country, he mentioned are-cheques, cards, USSD, electronic funds transfer, mobile apps, internet banking, and digital wallets.
These digital payment channels according to him are used for Payment to Government (P2G,B2G), Government Payments (G2P, G2B), Business to Business (B2B), Merchant and Retail Payment (P2M), Public Utility Payments, and person-to-person ( P2P).
Mobile financial service’ contribution towards the growth of digital payments
Touching on mobile financial service’ contribution towards the growth of digital payments in Ghana, Mr Hini noted that merchant payment has expanded the retail payment space with much focus on open market merchants and smaller businesses.
He was quick to add that aggregators and other partnerships with Fintech businesses in meeting customized digital business needs of customers have contributed to the growth of digital payments in the West African country.
The CEO also indicated that mobile financial service companies have partnered with commercial banks to allow bank to wallet-“Wallet to bank”transactions to bring convenience of banking to retail businesses and individuals across the length and breadth of the country.
Again, the mobile finance service companies have teamed up the government and the central bank to launch Ghana’s mobile money interoperability (MMI) platform that allows customers to transfer money from one network to another seamlessly.
While ubiquitous agent network, visible and highly liquid supporting customer and merchant transactions has further contributed to the growth of digital payments in the country, Mr Hini, said.
What next?
According to him, all Ghanaians will have access to a broad range of suitable and affordable digital financial services –including payment, credit, savings, insurance, and investment, if the country’s Digital Financial Service Policy objectives and National Payment strategy (2024) are leveraged.
The two policies mentioned above when implemented would foster efficient payment, enhance financial innovations, and improve financial inclusion in the country.
While measures including partnerships/industry adoption, accelerators, and developing of innovative solutions would help to drive digital payment within the informal sector – 70% of payments generally falls within the informal sector.
Intensify education
Dr Ernest Addison, Governor of the BoG, in a speech read for him by Dr Settor Amediku, Director of Payment Systems at BoG, called on banks and non-banks to collaborate and intensify efforts on education campaigns and awareness-building on issues of payment fraud to spur behavioural change and build confidence in digital payments space.
“We must steadily work towards eliminating the barriers that hinders effective collaboration among players and help achieve the cash-lite economy agenda”.
The CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, Mansa Nettey urged the BoG and financial institutions to enhance regulation and strengthen fraud detection protocols to help maintain confidence in digital platforms and promote better financial inclusion in the country.
African Eye Report
