Bawumia Launches Phase II of Mobile Money Interoperability

Company News of Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Source: presidency.gov.gh

2018-11-28

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia launched the second phase of the interoperability platform for mobile telephony in Accra.

The launch of phase two of the interoperability platform concludes the triangle of financial inclusion and guarantees universal interoperability, making Ghana one of the few countries in the world to have achieved this feat.

The first phase of the project, launched on May 10, 2018, was the interconnection of mobile money platforms and the Ghana National Switch (gh-link system), but not the E-zwich payment systems. This allowed users to make payments from Mobile Money portfolios to bank accounts, and vice versa. It also allowed the transfer of funds between different mobile money services provided by the telecom companies.

The second phase completed the interconnection between Mobile Money and e-zwich payment systems. Thus, the interconnection of mobile money platforms and e-zwich with the gh-link platform allows customers to easily transfer funds on all three platforms: bank accounts, mobile money portfolios and e-zwich payment systems.

At the launch ceremony on Wednesday, November 28, 2018, Vice President Bawumia said that this universal interoperability, known by the fintech sector and banking sector as the triangle of financial inclusion, because that it interconnects three payment platforms; mobile money, bank account and e-zwich – should remove the constraints encountered in trying to move funds in real time.

"This should make us more efficient and allow us to accomplish more in the same time. All these important initiatives are in line with other government programs of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to accelerate the digitization of the economy.

"It is important that this enhances financial inclusion by bridging the gap between banks and non-banks. This will also allow the free flow of funds between the three platforms; allowing banks and non-banks to interact at the same level. "

The benefits for ordinary businesses and Ghanaians will be enormous, with endless possibilities on the horizon, said Vice President Bawumia.

"The speed of financial flows generated by universal interoperability should also translate into quick turnaround times for businesses as producers, wholesalers and retailers can receive real-time funds to deliver products to customers, regardless the region of the country where they are. to find each other

"The possibilities are enormous and I expect Fintech to take advantage of it and work with banks and other financial institutions to provide us with excellent products."

With the conclusion of phase two, Vice President Bawumia said that it was time to work on phase three.

"They say the best reward for a good job is more work. So, once again, in the spirit of transforming our economy, let the partners in this project take on an additional challenge: call it phase 3.

"The phase 3 that I propose is the interoperability of operators / agents / mobile money traders. By this I mean that it should be possible for an operator, agent or merchant with only one phone and one SIM card to be able to load electronic funds into the customer's wallet, regardless of the network.

"An agent must currently keep different float accounts for each operator to serve their customers. Thus, when the agent's balance for a given operator is exhausted, the agent is not able to serve that operator's customers even though he may have electronic funds available unused on another network.

"So you see that agents are not refusing customers because they do not want to serve them, but they simply can not use the float that they have for a network operator.

"The status quo is not effective and affects both the production and profitability of the agent, while putting a damper on the cash-lite agenda. So let me ask you to work together to solve this problem, so that anyone going to an agent can get the service when electronic funds are available.

"I think that the sequence of what we have achieved so far is normal and I urge all key parties to ensure that we achieve that success as well, so that customers can have more access." wide to the mobile money service. "

Vice President Bawumia congratulated the board of directors and leaders of Ghana's financial technology (Fintech), telecommunication and all partners for their cooperation and contribution to the development of interoperability of money in Ghana.