Vice President Bawumia has launched yet another electronic payment platform, the “GhanaPay”.
This is to enhance financial services and promote financial inclusion, especially in the informal sector.
GhanaPay is a mobile money service, the first bankwide solution in Ghana, expected to provide an opportunity for users to have access to unlimited banking services in addition to existing mobile money services.
The platform considered a novelty was developed through the collaborative effort of the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement System (GhiPSS) and the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) under the supervision of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
At the launch in Accra, the Vice President said everyone with access to a mobile phone could register for the service, with or without a bank account.
Transactions on GhanaPay are free of charge, only e-levy charges apply.
The GhanaPay services are being provided by the universal and rural banks as well as the savings and loans companies to individuals and businesses nationwide.
Interested persons and businesses can register for GhanaPay by dialing USSD Code *707# or download the app from the Google Play or Apple Store. One has to provide his or her personal details along with the Ghana-Card to facilitate registration.
One can equally register for the service either through self-registration, with any bank branch or designated GhanaPay Service Agents with a valid Ghana-Card.
Users can also send and receive money on GhanaPay platform and other mobile money networks, bank accounts, undertake cash-in and cash-out, as well as pay a GhQR merchant, buy airtime and data.
Dr Bawumia could not but described as heart-warming the fact that players in the banking industry are increasingly looking for ways to extend financial inclusion to all Ghanaians.
“It is clear that in the near future almost every part of our lives will be driven by digitalisation. Let me, therefore, commend the Ghana Association of Banks GHIPSS, the Central Bank and all institutions that, from the very beginning, believed in this vision and have supported it through to this point” Dr Bawumia stated.
He was confident GhanaPay would take care of the bottlenecks associated with the opening of bank accounts and significantly reduce the traditionally unbanked population.
He was also optimistic it would provide healthy competition to the mobile money space, which would lead to enhanced services and lower the cost of financial transactions.
“As a government, we will continue to create the enabling environment for such innovative products to be rolled out.
“It is in anticipation of the government and I firmly believe that this whole digitalization drive is going to be the next job and wealth creation avenue for our teeming youth,” he said.
Governor of the Central Bank, Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison said the launch of GhanaPay Wallet was another milestone in the digitalisation of the financial system.
He said banks in Ghana were re-inventing themselves and continuing to respond positively to the competitive nature of the payment systems characterised by the increased consumer preferences for convenience and frictionless payment systems.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bawumia said Ghana’s progress in migrating to electronic payments had been horrible, noting that, in less than a decade, its instant pay transactions valued at GHc 420, 000 in 2016 surged exponentially to GHC31.4 billion in 2021.
In addition, he indicated that Ghana’s cheque usage per capita which was 95.67 per cent in 2016, declined to 18.9 per cent in 2021.
He was, therefore, of the firm belief that the emergence of new business modules in the banking sector together with partnerships with FINTECH technology companies offering payment-related services had also helped to close the financial inclusion gap.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent