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The Minister of Information, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has revealed that Ghanaians will begin to experience the phase II of the Mobile Money Interoperability Project on Wednesday 28th November 2018 upon its successful completion.

In March 2017, the Mobile Money Interoperability Project was commissioned by His Excellency the Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia to allow seamless flow of transactions across mobile money, bank and other payment systems in the country.

To further create convenience and rope in mobile money users into the core financial ecosystem, the government initiated a move to create interoperability among the various payment platforms in the Country.

Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) was tasked to lead the project. Together with the three mobile Money Operators: MTN, Vodafone & Airtel/Tigo, and financial institutions, Ghana’s Universal Interoperability under the concept, Financial Inclusion Triangle, has been successfully implemented.

Delving into the project which was executed in two phases, Hon. Oppong Nkrumah as part of his bi-weekly media encounter said the Phase one saw the interconnection of the mobile money platforms and the Ghana National Switch (gh-link system).

“It made it possible for customers to send MoMo across networks and from MoMo wallet to bank account and vice versa. Over 1.3 million transactions have been recorded so far on the Phase 1 platform,” he mentioned.

Regarding the Phase two (2), he said it has completed the interconnection between Mobile Money and ezwich (Ghana’s biometric smart card system); thus Phase two completes the Financial Inclusion Triangle that connects bank accounts, MoMo wallet and ezwich,making Ghana one of the few countries to achieve this Universal Interoperability.

HOW IT WORKS

Mobile Money subscribers and e-zwich cardholders wishing to move money across these payment platforms can now do so seamlessly from their phones or any e-zwich device such as Poses at the banks and agent locations.

Similarly, the interconnection of mobile money and e-zwich platforms, to the gh-link platform means customers can conveniently move funds across all three platforms: bank accounts, Mobile Money wallets and e-zwich cards.

Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrunah pontificated that with the successful roll out of phase II, Customers will be able to send and receive money directly from each other irrespective of the payment platform they are on; allowing them more accessibility and convenience.

“Achieving this level of Interoperability, contributes to digitizing cash in the Ghanaian economy, increasing efficiency of payments, and improving financial inclusion by bridging the gap between the banked and unbanked,” he recounted.

“It will also enable free flow of funds between and among all the three platforms; allowing the banked and the unbanked to interact at the same level. The interconnection of the 3 platforms creates a world of opportunities for Fintechs to develop a plethora of services/payment solutions for the public,” he added.