Mobile money interoperability goes up by over 350% in the first quarter of 2020

According to the figures from the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), a subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana, this is an increase compared to the same period last year where they recorded GHC1.11million.

This year, the volume went up to over GHC5.12 million transactions.

Before the MMI was introduced one could only send money to another of a different telecommunications network only through the token system which was somehow complicated.

Since the MMI was introduced, it has become easier to transfer funds across wallets of different networks. This possibility has also led many organisations to set up their systems to accept mobile money payments.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse, said that the MMI has made payments through mobile money an efficient and east one.

He, therefore, entreated all businesses to accept payments from mobile money wallets as one of the default modes of payment or risk losing out on potential income.

In the first months after MMI was introduced, the volume transactions were around 100,000 per month. However, monthly transactions have now grown to over one million with March 2020 recording close to two million transactions.

MMI transactions include transfers from wallets to bank accounts as well as from wallets to e-zwich cards.

But these two make up for less than 3% of the volume of transactions. This means that an overwhelming majority of the transactions involve wallet to wallet transfers.

Even though Mobile money has been largely successful in Ghana, it is being negated by frequent cashback transactions. This means people still use cash for payments.

In recent times, however, the introduction of merchant IDs has encouraged customers to pay directly from their wallets.

The launch of the universal QR code for payment is also expected to reduce the use of cash for payments.

This payment service will enable customers to scan the codes of merchants to pay directly from their wallets. The QR code payment is also available for feature phone users who will be required to dial a specific code to effect payment.

Payment using QR code in Ghana can be made using mobile money wallets or bank accounts as well as any other payment apps that fintech may develop. This payment service was launched in March this year.