Mobile Money Interoperability transactions rise 400% in six months
Mobile Money Interoperability transactions between January and June 2020 ran to 13.8 million, against the 2.5 million recorded in the same period last year
Ghana News Agency (Accra) – The volume of Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI) transactions jumped over 444% in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year.
According to the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) half-year performance report, MMI transactions from January to June stood at 13.8 million, against 2.5 million recorded in the same period last year.
The huge jump in MMI volume could be attributed to increased awareness that funds can now be transferred across wallets of different telecommunications networks.
This development follows a series of campaigns that GhIPSS has been running together with partner institutions.
“The flexibility that MMI has introduced into the Ghanaian payment system has made the movement of funds very easy and this has been extremely crucial in the face of the coronavirus pandemic,” said Archie Hesse, chief executive officer of GhIPSS.
MMI is one of the biggest financial sector breakthroughs that has increased mobile money transactions in Ghana.
Since its introduction, many organisations have set their systems to accept mobile money payments, because their customers can pay them regardless of the network to which they subscribe.
Although the overwhelming majority of MMI transactions involves fund transfers from one mobile money wallet to another, the half-year performance report also shows use of the MMI platform to transfer money from bank accounts to mobile money wallets and vice versa.
Engage fintechs
The volume of transfers from bank accounts to wallets stood at over 2.1 million transactions, while transfers made from mobile money wallets to bank accounts ran to almost 380,000 transactions.
Hesse said the continuous growth in volume of electronic payment transactions demonstrates increasing public appreciation of its benefits over cash transactions.
He said that GhIPSS, together with its partners, would continue its programme of public education to encourage more patronage of the payment channels.
Key players such as fintechs will be engaged to expose them to the many opportunities that MMI offers by way of electronic payments.
MMI and GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP) are two electronic payment channels which, experts say, could deepen financial inclusion in Ghana significantly.
Both products continue to record very high growth rates. While MMI enjoyed growth of over 444% in volume, GIP experienced close to 600% growth in volume in the first half of this year.
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