Mobile money transactions shoot up 737%

The volume of transactions of mobile money in Ghana grew by 737.4 percent in 2016, the Bank of Ghana’s latest report on the Impact of Mobile Money on the Payment System in Ghana has revealed.

According to the report, total float balance was GH¢1.257 billion at the end of December, 2016 compared to a float balance of GH¢547.96 million at the end of December, 2015, reflecting a growth of 129.5 per cent.

Additionally, total interest paid to holders of electronic money wallets in 2016 amounted to GH¢24.79 million.

Mobile money volume of transactions however registered a growth rate of 737.4 per cent from 2012 to 2016.

Importantly, the number of mobile money agents at the end of 2016 was 107,415 with MTN mobile money contributing 54.0 per cent. TIGO Cash followed with 24.9 per cent, Airtel Money with 11.0 per cent and Vodafone Cash, 10.1 per cent.

The report stated that mobile money is gradually becoming a major means of payment for the unbanked and the underserved in Ghana, and the rapid growth in mobile money usage in Ghana is partly on account of increasing penetration and application of mobile phones particularly in the rural areas.

According to the report, the marked increase in mobile money usage is not unique to Ghana as Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa also registered significant growth in mobile money transactions.

On policy recommendations, the report noted that the payment department of the Central Bank will continue to require mobile money operators and banks to act honestly, by presenting all terms and information about their mobile money products in a clear and accurate way to aid consumer decision-making.

Others are the need for mobile money operators and banks to treat every consumer fairly and not discriminate against customer, as well as provide adequate internal dispute resolution mechanisms, financial literacy education for the public and strengthen internal controls to minimized mobile money related and cyber fraud.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of mobile money on the payment system in Ghana.

The paper found that in the short-run, value of mobile money transactions impact positively on the volume of mobile money transactions.

Similarly, the empirical investigations also showed that there are stable long-run relationships among volume of payment systems transactions, value of payment systems transactions, volume of MM transactions and value of MM transactions.