Mobile money interoperability accounts for 12% of GhIPSS products

Cross-network mobile money transactions represent 12 percent of products and services offered by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), just four months after its introduction. This performance shows its growing patronage and the general uptake of electronic payments in Ghana.

GhIPSS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana, mandated to migrate Ghana into an electronic payment society. It has been introducing a number of electronic payment products and services since its establishment over a decade ago, in order to make those payment channels available to the public through financial institutions.

GhIPSS introduced the cross-network mobile money transfers, otherwise referred to as Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI), in May this year. By end of the second quarter, MMI accounted for only 3 percent of its products. But this has grown significantly to 12 percent by end of the third quarter, according to the GhIPSS 2018 Quarter-3 report.

MMI has upstaged ACH Direct Debit, gh-link transactions as well as GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP), although all those products continue to experience increase in the volume of transactions. Electronic clearing of cheques, e-zwich and ACH Direct Credit transactions however remain the products with biggest share.

At the time of its launch, MMI was tipped to drive electronic payments in the country, and it appears to be living up to its billing. A number of financial institutions are riding on the MMI to create microfinance products, while some Fintech companies are devising quicker ways of paying for goods using mobile money. These avenues and others are contributing to the growth in cross-0network mobile money transactions.

The Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse, said in an interview that the growth in MMI transactions shows that there is appetite for electronic payments in Ghana. He therefore challenged businesses and Fintechs to take advantage of the interest in electronic payments and create easier ways to use these payment channels.

GhIPSS is currently running a social media campaign to create more awareness about MMI and GIP. The campaign is part of efforts to encourage more people to patronise electronic payment options because of their enormous benefits. The Business Development department of GhIPSS also continues to engage banks as well as key stakeholders on these products. All of these initiatives are expected to result in increased transactions and improvement in the electronic payment culture.