Ecobank Ghana and Ghana Post have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen financial inclusion and bring banking services to many more Ghanaians and drive government agenda.

Under the deal, 100 Ghana Post outlets would be used as Ecobank Xpress Points to cater for more Ghanaians.

The programme will start with an initial 78 outlets before 22 more are added.

Ultimately, the plan is to turn all 360 Ghana Post outlets across the country into financial service and agency banking hubs to deepen financial inclusion.

Currently, about 68 per cent of Ghanaians have access to financial services, leaving a 32 per cent gap to be bridged.

The Ecobank Ghana Managing Director, Mr Dan Sackey, and the Deputy MD of Ghana Post, Kwaku Tabi Amponsah, signed the MoU and witnessed by Dr. Eddy Botchwey and Kwesi Owusu-Abrokwa.

Commenting on the deal, Mr Sackey lauded the partnership between the two institutions, adding there could not be any better partner for the rollout of the strategy than Ghana Post because of the many outlets spread across the country to drive financial inclusion.

The move, he said, would make it easier for Ghanaians everywhere in the country to have access to Ecobanks’s digital financial services and Ghana Post provides the widespread presence for that to be possible.

Mr Sackey said customers, especially the underserved and unbanked population, would get to have faster, safer and convenient banking when they access the Ghana Post Ecobank Xpress Point.

Besides, Ecobank would get to increase its presence across the country in a more cost-effective manner and also get to drive financial inclusion.

"The call to action is to let all of us join hands together to deepen the financial inclusion agenda across Ghana and Africa. On our part, we shall continue to do this in pursuit of the Ecobank vision of Building a Pan-African Banking Institution that contributes to the Economic Development and Financial Integration of Africa," Mr Sackey added.

The Deputy MD of Ghana Post, Kwaku Tabi Amponsah said his company was working to increase revenue and such strategic collaborations in agency banking were critical to that effort.

He said such innovative partnerships would help GhanaPost to be endowed with new competencies from their various banking and financial service partners.

According to him, the partnership with Ecobank also puts Ghana Post in a position to help drive Government’s financial inclusion agenda even further, adding that it is his firm belief that the partnership will be for the long-term.

The two institutions believe that their collaborative strategy will go a long way in helping to bridge that gap.

As part of the partnership, Ecobank will advance GHS1 million to Ghana Post to convert their outlets into ECOBANK Xpress Points, where they can offer some eight consumer banking services, including deposits, withdrawals, bills payment, remittances, and interbank transfers.

Currently, Ecobank Ghana has 67 branches, with 5000 plus Xpress Points across the country serving over 2.4 million customers.