MTN Ghana has called on the Ghanaian government to extend tax holidays and other related subsidies and reliefs to mobile financial services, in order to encourage usage and drive the country’s financial inclusion agenda forward.
If the telecom giant’s request is granted, it will mean that its mobile money, as well as Tigo Cash, Airtel Money and the yet-to-be launched Vodafone Cash services will enjoy these tax incentives.
The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Ebenezer Asante, who made the call at the MTN Mobile Money Stakeholders’ forum in Accra maintained: “Policy change and support for mobile money providers to encourage active participation and innovation within the sector will help enhance adoption”.
He thanked the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for recently coming out with guidelines to empower non-banking institutions like MTN and others, to participate in the delivery of financial services to Ghanaians.
“We believe the Central Bank can still do more participation to create top of mind awareness in driving electronic payments”, Mr. Asante told participants at the well-attended forum.
Speaking on the topic -‘Maximising the Potential of Mobile Money to drive Financial Inclusion in Ghana’, he noted that in Ghana, financial inclusion had improved by 16% from 2010 to 2014.
Whereas access to banks rose 9% and access to informal mechanisms fell by 60%. Mobile Money has had the greatest increase in access, rising from 7% to 20% within the period”.
According to him, the contribution of MTN Mobile Money to this increase could not be overemphasized.
As the number one Mobile Financial Services provider in Ghana, MTN continues to lead in innovation and growth of Mobile Money services in Ghana. Since its launch in 2009, MTN Mobile Money has grown from a subscriber base of about 5,000 to about 4.8 million as at the end of July, 2015. The service now boasts of monthly transaction volumes in excess of 18.5 million, Mr. Asante stated.
Currently, there are over 19,500 MTN Mobile Money agents as compared to 967 bank branches and 1,316 ATMs nationwide – this is according to the BoG 2014 Annual Report.
So in terms of reach and access, Mobile Money provides a huge opportunity to deliver financial services at affordable costs to all segments of the Ghanaian society.
The success of mobile money, he noted, came through a lot of hard work, support from all stakeholders, especially the network’s partner banks and continuous innovations in the services provided, which include airtime top up, money transfer and bill payment (DStv, GOtv, ECG, Online Stores, School fees, etc.) Others are bulk payment, Insurance services, ATM withdrawals and International remittances.
He commended the partner banks, including Access Bank, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Cal Bank and Ecobank for their collaboration in making mobile money a success story in Ghana.
“We wouldn’t have made it without them. We will continue to work closely with the banks to complement our efforts in driving financial inclusion in Ghana”.
Contributing to the topic from the lens of a regulator, the Head of Operations at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mrs. Elly Ohene-Adu noted that financial inclusion has assumed global attention among researchers, politicians, business executives because of its importance to the society.
She therefore urged telecom operators and banks in the country to double their investments on technologies to drive financial inclusion by introducing products and services to help the poor, which are mostly excluded in the society.
On mobile money, Mrs. Ohene-Adu advised telecom companies which are operating mobile money services to work assiduously to implement crime fighting measures at all their merchant centres to protect their customers from fraud.
The Head of e-channels at the Universal Merchant Bank, Mycles Christian Hagan, called on the mobile money service providers to introduce youth centric products and services to propel the growth of the mobile market.
The Chief Executive Officer of Teksol, Louis Amenyo used the occasion to appeal to the government to come with a policy which will compel all public sector institutions to accept mobile money payments to drive mobile money sector growth and financial inclusion.
“Such a policy will also go a long way to reduce fraud and corruption in those institutions”, he added.
Director of Data Bank Financial Services, Yoofi Grant, noted that globally more banks are investing in payment systems and urged banks operating in Ghana to follow suit.
Instructively, the stakeholders’ forum which formed part of the network’s annual Mobile Money Month was attended by representatives of the BoG, commercial banks, mobile money merchants, among others discussed challenges, opportunities, and the way forward for the country’s mobile money sector.
MTN Ghana always dedicates the month of August to Mobile Money to create awareness about the service and highlight the importance of creating a cashless economy.
The month-long celebration which is under the theme ‘Mobile Money, driving financial inclusion in Ghana’ summarises the overall objective of this year’s celebration.
African Eye News.com
