Accra, Ghana//-After engaging 300 of its stakeholders at Labadi Beach Hotel yesterday at this year’s MoMo Fintech Stakeholder Forum, MobileMoney Limited (MML), MTN Ghana subsidiary responsible for mobile financial services has once again intensified its public education on Mobile Money (MoMo) fraud which is becoming rampant in the West African country.
To this end, the company employed and resourced thousands of mobile agents across the length and breadth of Ghana to provide customer and public education for all people irrespective of their networks.
The Chief Executive Officer of MobileMoney Limited, Shaibu Haruna said the MoMo Fraud Education Market Activation which began at Lapaz, a suburb of Accra was used to educate the public on various fraud typologies using drama.
Speaking at this year’s MoMo Fintech Stakeholder Forum which coincided with the 15th anniversary of MML, he expressed the company’s commitment to driving innovation, collaboration, and partnerships that would enable them to reach the next frontier of inclusion.
“We will continue to invest in building a resilient and inclusive digital financial ecosystem that serves the diverse needs of Ghanaians. Beyond this forum, the company’s vision is clear: to continue empowering communities by expanding access to financial and digital services”.
15 years later, MTN Mobile Money has proven to be a game-changer in Ghana’s digital financial services landscape. Most importantly, it has transformed the lives of millions of Ghanaians, contributed to Ghana’s socioeconomic growth, and provided thousands of job opportunities, according to Mr Haruna.
It has also provided a lifeline for people, businesses, and communities across the country as it democratises digital payments for all. The theme for this year’s MoMo@15 celebrations, “Empowering Communities – Celebrating 15 Years of Progressive Financial & Digital Inclusion” underscores the remarkable and profound work we have been able to achieve through our collective efforts.
In a panel discussion on the forum’s theme: ‘Building Trust and Cooperation Among Stakeholders; Maximising the Impact of Emerging Technologies for the Promotion of Financial Inclusion’, the panellists called for more investment in customer education to build and maintain trust in fintech operation.
The panellists- Kwame Oppong – Director of Fintech & Innovation at the Bank of Ghana (BoG); Gillian Darko – Chief of Staff and Director of Strategy, Yellow Card; Ebow Anamuah-Mensah – CTO IT Consortium; Priscilla Hazel – Group Head of Commercial at Nsano and Martha Acquaye – Head of Digital and inclusive Banking Cal Bank agreed to the fact that the fight against fraud is a collective obligation.
Localising MoMo education
The MML had adopted strategies aimed at localising the MoMo education by involving traditional rulers, opinion leaders, churches, and mosques, among others to ensure that the messages reach all in the communities.
The company according to senior executives is taking the education campaign to the communities, houses, churches, mosques, and workplaces, among others to drum home the MoMo fraud campaign.
Platform is secured
Mr Haruna continued to assure the customers that they would continue to improve and strengthen the security of the MoMo platform to make it always secure.
The MoMo platform is secured at MML end but they are also entreating customers to keep their PIN codes safe, reminding them not to share their PIN codes with anyone and they should not answer any calls to discuss their MoMo wallets.
MoMo services
MobileMoney Limited which was the first to launch mobile money operations on July 21st, 2009, is celebrating its 15th anniversary in the country this year.
Launched with two main services namely Money Transfer (P2P) and Airtime Purchase, the platform now has six major categories of financial transactions under which varying services are provided.
The services are pensions, insurance, savings, microloans, shopping, payments, international remittances, and banking/investment options.
Indeed, almost all the products and services of financial technology (fintechs) platforms in the country are powered by MoMo payment systems.
Growth in MoMo
The use of mobile money has grown exponentially within 15 years, making Ghana one of Africa’s leaders in mobile money innovation, adoption, and usage.
According to figures from the Bank of Ghana (BoG), mobile money accounts now surpass bank accounts and greater financial inclusion has benefited large swathes of the population that remain unbanked including the poor, the young, and women.
While access to traditional banking services remains almost a mirage for most Ghanaians, the universal availability of mobile phones has allowed millions to access mobile money services in the country.
Most Ghanaian users now rely on mobile money to send and receive money domestically. Recently, they are taking advantage of new services to also send and receive money internationally.