Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has announced that the Akufo-Addo government is the first to introduce mobile interoperability on the African continent.
Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokroo show Tuesday, August 25, 2020, he noted that the introduction of the mobile interoperability into the financial space has facilitated the transaction of funds from the phone to a bank account with ease.
While speaking on digitisation, Dr Bawumia said, “Banking is now branchless…it is taking place on mobile phones and so having this mobile interoperability, it means that even if you have a mobile money account, you send it to your bank account and someone can send you money from the bank account to the mobile money wallet. So, the way we use current account in the bank, you can use the mobile account the same way… Ghana is the only country in Africa to do mobile interoperability.”
He added that the metric used inhis securing a current account at the bank is the same with mobile money and both give interest on the account balance.
“In Ghana, if you have a mobile money account, it is as good as a bank account. In Kenya, if you have a mobile money account, it is not as good as a bank account even though it can come close but because they don’t have the interoperability".
The Mobile Money Payment Interoperability, developed by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) with the help of the mobile telecom industry allows the free flow of funds from a mobile money wallet to the other across all networks.
It also gives room for financial inclusion, increases service reach and make use of e-payments rather than the use of cash for payments.
