Latest data from Ghana interbank Payment and Settlement System has seen Mobile money interoperability record over 1.1 million volume of transactions, five months after its inception.

According to the latest data, over 1.1 million transactions were recorded at the end of September.

The total value of cross-network transactions amounted to about 99.3 million Ghana cedis

In its first month of operations, only 96 thousand transactions took place but that figure has risen steadily over the period to over 312 thousand transactions in the month of September alone.

Chief Executive of GhIPSS Archie Hesse believes the continuous growth in the volume of transactions clearly shows that the mobile money interoperability came to fulfil a need.

Background

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia launched the first mobile money payments interoperability system in Ghana in May this year.

The system allows for customers to transfer money between two accounts at different mobile money companies or to transfer money between mobile money accounts and bank accounts.

 Benefits

Interoperability eliminates the problems related to traditional banking services, especially challenges in opening bank accounts, high costs of maintaining a bank account relative to customers’ income levels, basic literacy, administration, proper record keeping among others.

Since its introduction, customers are able to move monies freely from mobile money to mobile money accounts across different networks. Again, mobile customers can transfer money from their mobile money accounts to bank accounts with ease.