NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, May 14, 2018

By Chris Donkin

Mobile money interoperability went live in Ghana following a number of delays, a step hailed by the country’s Vice President for propelling the country into one of the global leaders for the technology.

The interoperability platform had been first slated for November 2017 before being pushed back to January, February and eventually May, following apparent technical issues with the underlying system.

Ghana’s service was officially launched by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia yesterday (10 May) and marks the latest step in a wider government initiative to create a “cash-lite” economy.

The interoperability platform, developed by Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems, will allow users of the country’s mobile money services to seamlessly transfer funds between wallets provided by rival companies. It will also ease payments to and from traditional bank accounts.

Bawumia said the new service made Ghana “one of the leaders in the global interoperability payments space.”