Ecobank Ghana, in collaboration with Zain, has introduced an instant mobile money transfer service onto the Ghanaian market on Wednesday. The product, known as ‘Ecobank Mobile Banking with Zap’ was officially launched by Nicholas Okoe Sai, Head of Banking Supervision, Bank of Ghana (BoG). Zap is Zain Ghana’s mobile commerce service that allows Zain customers to use their mobile phones via a mobile wallet to pay utility bills and also goods and services. Thus customers of Ecobank on Zain’s network can now use their mobile phones to transfer funds from an authorized Ecobank Cedi account to a mobile wallet; transfer funds from a mobile wallet to any valid Ecobank Cedi account; transfer funds from an authorized Ecobank cedi account to another valid Ecobank cedi account; request for a bank balance and also request for a mini statement. Samuel Ashitey Adjei, Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, in a welcome statement, said the service would be supported by the bank’s 24/7 Contact Centre, which would provide customers with the needed assistance. “As a pace-setter, Ecobank will continue to offer you the full range of mobile banking services including bill payments, micro-savings, disbursements and repayment of micro-loans, micro-credits and insurance," he added. “Let me assure you that Ecobank will fully harness this opportunity to provide access to financial products for the banked, under-banked and un-banked with the required flexibility and utmost convenience.” In a speech read on his behalf, Phillip Sowah, Managing Director of Zain Ghana stated that “this collaboration with Ecobank is historic. "For the first time in Ghana, mobile phone customers can manage their bank accounts using their mobile phone,” he said. Mr Sowah revealed that since the launch of Zap, over one million customers have registered for the service which has informed us that Ghanaians are ready for a better way of conducting monetary transactions. He appealed to customers of Ecobank to register for the Zap service and enjoy the benefits of Ecobank’s Mobile Banking with Zap. Over 500 agents are operating in different parts of Ghana under Zain Ghana’s Zap service. Source: Daily Guide