Make use of financial inclusion triangle – public urged

The public has been urged to explore the benefits of moving funds to and fro the three main payment platforms namely bank accounts, the e-zwich and the mobile money platforms.

The three platforms were interconnected a year ago in what is termed the Financial Inclusion Triangle, when the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia launched the second phase of Mobile Money Interoperability.

With the Financial Inclusion Triangle, the public is able to move funds from their bank account to their e-zwich card and to their mobile money wallet and vice versa.

The movement across all three platforms makes payments or movement of funds easy.

Available statistics shows that a lot more people move funds from their bank account to their mobile money wallet and also from their e-zwich card to their mobile money wallet.

The third quarter report by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) however shows that people are also sending money from their mobile money wallet to their bank accounts as well as moving funds from their mobile money wallet to their e-zwich card.

Between January and September this year, funds were moved from mobile money wallets to bank accounts over 142 thousand times and within the same period funds were moved from mobile money wallet to e-zwich cards over 2,677 times.

These volumes of transactions although not huge, indicate that the Financial Inclusion Triangle is functional and has enhanced the process of sending money.

Speaking in an interview, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse said Ghana currently had a very solid payment system with a variety of channels that the public can explore.

He said GhIPSS together with the banks would continue to educate the public on the various payment channels and urged the public to acquaint themselves of these options and use them when it suits them.

“A year ago we interconnected our three main platforms, so people should freely move money across to their bank account, mobile money wallet and e-zwich cards depending on which one they want to use at each point. That freedom exists, let’s enjoy it,” it said.

He said “the creation of the three platforms and interconnecting them means that the unbanked can perform banking and send money from their non-bank platforms such as mobile wallet to banking platforms.”

By Kingsley Asare