FINTECH IN GHANA: AN EVOLVING CASHLESS ECONOMY


Ghana is the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa, increasingly evolving from being a cash-based society to a digital one. The financial technology (“fintech”) market has developed exponentially since the Sika Card and others were first introduced into the Ghanaian market.

Telecommunications companies in Ghana have since driven the country’s fintech /payment system infrastructure into the 21st century, by introducing the most dominant and widely used fintech innovation trend in Ghana as yet; the digital mobile money payment system (“mobile money”). The first of its kind, MTN Mobile Money was introduced in Ghana in 2009, subsequently TigoCash (now AirtelTigo Money) was launched in 2011 and Vodafone Cash in 2015. As evidence of the tremendous momentum in the fintech market, the Bank of Ghana (“BOG”)recorded a total of 17.5 million active mobile money accounts and 356,000 active mobile money agents in March 2021. These mobile money platforms allow consumers to deposit, withdraw and transfer money, earn interests on their deposits and pay for utilities. According to the Bank of Ghana (“BOG”), which is the regulator of payment systems and services in Ghana, the value of mobile money transactions shot up from GHS45.3 billion in June 2020 to GHS67.9 billion in March 2021.

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