BoG commended for its role in the growth of MoMo sector

Senior Manager of MTN Ghana, Mr Godwin Kwami Tamakloe, has commended the Bank of Ghana for its role in the growth of the Mobile Money (MoMo) sector.

According to him the central bank’s introduction of new regulations in 2015 aided the mobile money sector to grow with over GH¢2.2 billion roped into the banking sector via Mobile Money.

Mr. Tamakloe said factors such as growth in mobile phone usage, limited access to traditional banking services, and unsatisfied business and customer needs, the introduction of the Electronic Money Issuers guidelines, and the Agents guidelines impacted growth in the sector.

While speaking at the 5th Today Annual Lecture, in Accra on the topic: “The socio-economic impact of Mobile Money in Ghana”, He said unlike the previous regulation; the branchless banking guidelines, which was mainly for banks, with organisations like the MTN acting as agents in rolling out the service, the new regulations in 2016, placed the service in the hands of any institution that met the requirements of the BoG.

He added, that there have been tremendous increase in the use of the service up to date ,adding that the regulator continues to understand the times and making the necessary changes to enhance use of the service, by introducing a new Bill to govern the sector.

He noted that the payment systems and services Bill, which is currently being gazette, once passed, will bring together the Financial Technology (FinTech) companies into the sector.

“We understand from all this that the regulator has been a very big player in enhancing the use and growth of mobile money in this country.”

According to Mr Yaw Dabanka, E-Channels Support Manager at the National Investment Bank (NIB), while the sector grew and attracted more users, there are also incidences of fraud in the sector, with fraudsters using various scenarios including scam credit notifications and request for reversal of funds, false promotion/loyalty prizes, goods delivery scams as well as MNO employee/merchant collusion.

He said the rise of fraud in the MoMo was aided by anonymity due to the use of false identification for registration of SIM cards, inadequate education or awareness among users, surge in mobile phone users, inadequate control measures and under-reporting of fraudulent activities.

Mr Dabanka however urged the state to build more efficient and integrated identification systems, and players to increase fraud awareness campaigns, as well as reporting actual or attempted fraud cases.