The Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has, on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, launched the GhanaPay Mobile Money Service in Accra.
The GhanaPay service, which works similarly to the existing mobile money service but includes additional banking services, is available to anyone with a mobile phone (including a yam phone) and a traditional bank account.
GhanaPay is the first bank-wide mobile money service provided to individuals and businesses by universal banks, rural banks, and savings and loans companies.
Speaking at the launch, Dr. Bawumia called the GhanaPay mobile money service “another groundbreaking initiative,” which will expand the government’s vision of financial inclusion to all Ghanaians through digital banking.
“One of the biggest challenges that we faced as a country was the huge unbanked population. For a long time, over 70 percent of the adult population was unbanked. However, thanks to reforms in the payment channels, we have significantly reduced the unbanked population,” the Vice President said.
“It is heartwarming to know that the banking sector is increasingly looking for ways to extend financial inclusion to all Ghanaians. It is clear that the entire economy is being transformed to what I want to call from analogue to digital. The benefits of this transformation, which is literally sweeping across every sector of the economy, are enormous and we can readily see and experience some of the benefits,” he added.
While commending banks and other stakeholders for coming together to introduce the GhanaPay, Dr. Bawumia noted he is optimistic greater financial inclusion will soon be achieved in the country through digital financial service.
“I am particularly excited that the banks have closed their ranks and come together to introduce a shared electronic wallet, which has been christened GhanaPay. I see this as a huge avenue for banks to rapidly bring more people into the banking space,” he said.
“I know we can bring it (number of unbanked Ghanaians) down further and one of the channels to achieve this is through digital financing services; that is leveraging the increasing adoption and usage of the mobile wallet because of its ease of use,” he added.
The GhanaPay Mobile Money Service can be downloaded on Google Play Store or on Apple Store.
Similarly, to the like the existing mobile money services, the GhanaPay, once registered, can be used to send and receive money to and from mobile networks and bank accounts. It can also be used to cash in and cash out, buy airtime, data, and also pay for goods and services through a GhQR merchant.
