Mastercard on Ghana's digital payments growth and the future of inclusion

1. How would you summarise Mastercard’s performance in Ghana in 2025, particularly in terms of digital payments adoption and participation across consumers and businesses?

Ghana has established itself as one of West Africa’s most progressive digital payments ecosystems, and Mastercard’s performance in 2025 reflects that momentum. Digital payments have continued to expand across both consumers and businesses throughout the year, driven by significant growth in domestic and cross border in card transactions and complimented by mobile money adoption, fintech innovation as well as strong regulatory collaboration.

A key milestone was the opening of our new office in Accra, Ghana, reinforcing Mastercard’s long-term commitment to supporting Ghana’s digital economy and our intention to deepen local collaboration with the financial institutions, fintech innovators, mobile money operators and regulators driving it forward. Beyond infrastructure, Mastercard has continued introducing payment innovations that support everyday commerce, including contactless solutions like Tap on Phone and QR-based payments. Together, these efforts are helping accelerate the adoption of digital payments while strengthening Ghana’s broader financial ecosystem.

2. What would you describe as Mastercard’s biggest wins in Ghana in 2025, and what do they signal about the maturity of the country’s payments ecosystem?

One of Mastercard’s most notable achievements this year has been deepening collaboration with financial institutions and the fintech ecosystem to introduce solutions addressing real market needs. A prime example is the Mastercard and Access Bank Ghana youth card collaboration, designed for Ghanaians aged 13 to 40. With nearly 57% of the population under 30, yet fewer than 30% of youth accessing formal financial services, this initiative has served to build financial literacy and digital participation where it matters most.

Ghana's broader fintech ecosystem tells an equally encouraging story. The growing convergence of startups, banks and global technology firms is driving payment innovation at scale. Together, these developments signal a payments ecosystem that is maturing quickly, built on the kind of technology-financial-regulatory collaboration that sustains long-term growth.

3. Has customer adoption of digital payments changed compared to 2024, and what does that shift tell you about trust, usage and everyday behaviour in Ghana?

Adoption has evolved significantly compared to previous years. Consumers are increasingly using digital channels not just for large occasional transactions, but for everyday retail, e-commerce and services. This behavioural shift points to deepening trust rather than simply growing access.

Bank of Ghana data captures this well: fintech transactions rose 33.4% in Q1 2024, reflecting how embedded these platforms have become in daily economic activities. Equally significant is what these digital activities enable: transaction visibility that opens doors to credit and insurance access for consumers who previously had no financial footprint.

We are also seeing this trust translate into demand for more sophisticated, lifestyle-driven payment solutions. For example, Mastercard’s collaboration with Kalabash54, the fintech subsidiary of Wakanow Group, has introduced innovative travel cards that allow consumers to manage travel spend seamlessly through physical and virtual cards. The strong uptake of such products shows that digital payments are no longer viewed purely as utilities, but as tools that enhance everyday experiences, from local purchases to international travel. Together, these shifts reflect how Ghanaians are increasingly participating in the formal economy.

4. What major trends defined Ghana’s payments industry in 2025, and how did interoperability and mobile money shape those trends?

Ghana’s payments ecosystem in 2025 has been shaped by four converging forces: fintech innovation, new use cases in cards payments, mobile money growth and the continued expansion of interoperable infrastructure, which is driving instant payments. With 63 licensed fintech firms operating in the market, the ecosystem has the scale and diversity to drive meaningful change.

Interoperability has amplified that impact, enabling seamless, fast and secure transactions across platforms and institutions, removing the friction that previously made cross-platform payments cumbersome.

Our collaborations with mobile money providers will be central to this story going forward through extending financial access to consumers and businesses that traditional banking has not fully reached, expanding card acceptance on their network and providing best in class security solutions to protect their consumers and infrastructure against fraud and other cyber threats.

Beyond person-to-person payments, these capabilities are increasingly supporting small businesses and supply chains. A strong example is the collaboration between Mastercard and B2B commerce platform Boost, which provides digital payment wallets and embedded supply chain finance to FMCG distributors, wholesalers, and retailers across Africa. By combining acceptance solutions with access to working capital, such partnerships demonstrate how interoperability and mobile money are helping bridge gaps between informal commerce and the formal financial system, making digital payments a practical and scalable reality for businesses as well as consumers.

5. Cross-border payments remain a friction point for many African businesses. How is Mastercard collaborating with partners to make cross-border payments more predictable, secure and scalable for Ghanaian businesses?

Cross-border payments have historically been associated with complexity, delays and high transaction costs — barriers that limit Ghanaian businesses’ ability to compete in regional and global markets. Mastercard is addressing this directly through its global network and strategic local collaboration with banks and fintech partners across African trade corridors.

By connecting local financial institutions to Mastercard’s global payment infrastructure, we enable businesses to access faster, more transparent and more secure cross-border capabilities. Mastercard Move, our portfolio of money movement capabilities, operating across more than 200 countries - and connects to more than 1.75 billion endpoints globally, sits at the centre of this effort, providing the reach and reliability that businesses need to trade beyond borders with confidence.

6. Fraud and cybersecurity concerns often slow digital adoption. How is Mastercard working to protect consumers and businesses in Ghana as digital payments deepen?

Trust and security are the foundation on which any digital payments ecosystem is built. As adoption deepens in Ghana, ensuring that consumers and businesses feel confident transacting online becomes even more important. It is the enabling condition for continued growth.

Mastercard embeds security directly into its payment infrastructure through advanced fraud detection, AI-driven risk tools and robust data protection capabilities. Decision Intelligence Pro, for example, analyses over one trillion data points in real time to identify suspicious activity before it affects merchants or consumers. Since 2018, Mastercard has invested approximately $11 billion in cybersecurity innovation globally, helping prevent nearly $50 billion in potential fraud losses across its network.

Mastercard’s collaboration with Smile ID is one of such examples. The collaboration has accelerated the rollout of secure digital identity solutions across the continent which enables banks, fintechs, mobile money operators and other enterprises to onboard new customers faster, reducing identity fraud and expanding access to the financial system. It combines Mastercard’s global insights and Identity technology, which enables customers to verify digital identity elements with Smile ID’s data verification and fraud detection capabilities.

Beyond technology, we also work closely with industry partners and regulators to strengthen cybersecurity awareness and resilience across the financial ecosystem. Initiatives such as Mastercard Fintech Forum and Fraud and Cyber Resilience Forum brought ecosystem stakeholders together specifically to advance discussions on cybersecurity and digital trust — because security is a shared responsibility, not a single company's solution.

7. Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping payments and fraud prevention globally. How is Mastercard applying AI in ways that strengthen trust and fairness within Ghana’s financial ecosystem?

AI is playing an increasingly important role in the evolution of digital payments, particularly in areas such as fraud detection, risk management and customer experience.

On fraud, Mastercard has been using and investing in AI for more than two decades, applying machine learning and advanced analytics to strengthen security and improve payment experiences across its global network. Mastercard integrates AI across its global payment infrastructure to identify unusual patterns and detect potential fraud in real time, allowing financial institutions to process transactions more securely while reducing exposure to financial crime. Decision Intelligence Pro delivers 200% higher fraud detection by assessing the complex relationships within each transaction as it happens.

On access, AI-driven credit scoring models analyse alternative data sources, such as mobile usage patterns, supply chain records and agricultural data, to assess creditworthiness for individuals without formal financial histories. This is particularly consequential in markets like Ghana, where significant portions of the population remain outside the formal credit system.

Underpinning both is a commitment to responsible AI deployment, with strong governance frameworks that protect consumer privacy and promote fairness across the financial ecosystem.

8. Looking ahead to 2026, what do you see as the biggest opportunity for Ghana’s digital payments ecosystem—and what must the industry get right to sustain momentum?

The biggest opportunity ahead is deepening inclusion. Ensuring that the infrastructure and innovation built in 2025 reaches the consumers and businesses not yet fully participating in the digital economy.

Mastercard will continue strengthening collaboration with banks, fintech innovators and regulators, while expanding solutions that enable more consumers and businesses to participate in the digital economy. The Mastercard Start Path program will remain a key part of this, connecting Ghanian fintech startups with Mastercard’s global network, expertise and technology to help them scale sustainably.

Sustaining momentum, however, requires continued collaboration across the ecosystem, deeper investment in secure digital infrastructure and a shared commitment, from government, industry and the private sector, to ensure that digital innovation translates into opportunity for all segments of society.