Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on Wednesday, November 28, will launch the Phase-Two of the Mobile Money Interoperability Payment System at the Ghana Interbank Payment System following the completion of the Financial Inclusion Triangle.

In March 2017, the Vice President commissioned the Mobile Money Interoperability Project and on May 10, 2018, he duly launched the Phase-One of the project at the Marriot Hotel in Accra.

The Ghana Interbank Payment System (GhIPSS) was tasked to lead the project together with three mobile money operators: MTN, Vodafone and Airtel/Tigo, as well as financial institutions.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, who announced this at a news conference in Accra on Sunday, said the Phase-Two saw the interconnection between Mobile Money and ezwich (Ghana’s biometric smart card system).

He said the completion of the Financial Inclusion Triangle had made Ghana one of the few countries in Africa to achieve the Universal Interoperability, ensuring connecting of bank accounts, MoMo wallet and ezwich, thereby allowing a seamless flow of financial transactions.

The Information Minister said the System would further create convenience and rope in mobile money users into the core financial ecosystem and ensure a cash-lite society.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the Phase-One of the Project saw the interconnection of the mobile money platforms and the Ghana National Switch (gh-link system), which made it possible for customers to send mobile money across networks and from mobile money wallet to bank account and vice versa.

He said over 1.3 million transactions had been recorded under the Phase-One platform worth GH¢ 134 million.

In that regard, he said, mobile money subscribers and e-zwich cardholders who wanted to move money across those payment platforms could now do so seamlessly from their phones or any e-zwich device such as Point of Sale at the banks and agent locations.

Similarly, the interconnection of mobile money and e-zwich platforms to the gh-link platform means customers can conveniently move funds across all three platforms: bank accounts, mobile money wallets and e-zwich cards.

The successful rollout, of Phase-Two, the Minister noted, would ensure customers could send and receive money directly from each other irrespective of the payment platform they are on, therefore, allowing them more accessibility and convenience.

He said achieving that level of Interoperability would contribute towards digitising cash in the Ghanaian economy, increase the efficiency of payments and improving financial inclusion by bridging the gap between the banked and unbanked.

 

Also, it would create a world of opportunities for Fintechs to develop a plethora of services/payment solutions for the public, the Minister added.