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Fintech solutions, particularly those that allow for seamless payments and settlements will prove indispensable as financial institutions navigate the current Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) and return to full strength.

This is according to the Managing Director of Network International Ghana, Perry Addo-Quaye, who says the development has placed increased responsibility on service providers to deliver on their value propositions.

“We understand the significance of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme as an essential step in meeting Ghana’s debt sustainability targets, achieving macroeconomic stability, and growing the overall economy. There is still a long journey ahead for this initiative, though, and the government will be closely assessing the speed of uptake and impact,” he said in an interview with media.

“As this story unfolds, we will keep on intensifying our efforts to support Ghana’s economic transformation in line with our purpose of helping businesses and economies prosper by simplifying commerce and payments. Now more than ever, our partners and society at large will need more dependable and innovative ways of making and taking payments, and we intend to be at the forefront of meeting this growing demand in Ghana,” Mr. Addo-Quaye added.

His comments come in the wake of the Dubai-based company cementing its presence in the country with the setting up of its local arm, which comes equipped with a state-of-the-art data centre, last December, through which it currently serves 15 out of the 23 banks in Ghana.

“Network has successfully completed its setup and has started migrating Banks, FinTechs and its payment partners unto its platform for local processing. We expect to grow our market share further due to the setup of our state-of-the-art, PCI / ISO-certified datacentre in Ghana. In addition to the banks, we are also keen on working closely with Fintechs and Card schemes to expand our presence across Ghana’s financial services ecosystem,” Network International’s Country Managing Director remarked.

He stated that whilst the move to set up a local office was necessitated by the Payments Systems Act, the decision to venture into the Ghanaian market, even at a time when economic conditions are tight locally and globally is due to confidence in the growth prospect of the domestic market. This, he said, hinges on a robust entrepreneurial attitude and full embrace of digital innovation.

“The response has been good. Ghana has an entrepreneurial population that constantly exchanges money in one way or another, so we expect to see more growth in the country,” he said.

Mr. Addo-Quaye explained that the revolution has been fueled by the rapid adoption of mobile banking and digital payments due to the country's young and tech-savvy population and the government's efforts to go cashless. He added that growth has also been accelerated by investment from international fintech companies. The trend is expected to persist as more people in Ghana gain access to smartphones and the internet.

This comes as a recent report by Google and analytics firm, AppsFlyer, showed that between January 2021 and September 2022, the installation of finance apps on smartphones increased by 200 percent in Ghana; making it the highest growth rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. Already, official data shows that mobile money exceeded the GH¢1trillion mark for the first time, to close 2022 at GH¢1.07trillion.