Mobile money transactions significantly outstrip cheques by ¢770.4bn in 2021 – Bank of Ghana Summary of Economic and Financial Data reveals

Mobile money transactions for last year significantly outstripped cheque transactions by a massive ¢770.4 billion, the Summary of Economic and Financial Data from the Bank of Ghana has revealed.

This is compared to ¢522.9 billion recorded in the eight months of 2021.

Per the data, mobile money continued to remain the biggest payment solution in the country with an estimated ¢905.1 billion transactions recorded in 2021.

Total cheque transactions however stood at ¢134.7 billion during the period.

This indicates that many customers, particularly retail consumers, now prefer mobile money as the easiest form of banking transactions because of its accessibility and reliability.

Significantly, mobile money transactions in 2021 shot up significantly, compared to the previous year. The month with the biggest transaction was July 2021 in which ¢99 billion was recorded.

According to the data from the Bank of Ghana, the value of mobile money transactions in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2021 were estimated at ¢67.1 billion, ¢67.9 billion, ¢82.3 billion, ¢83.8 billion, ¢86.5 billion, ¢89.1 billion, ¢99.1 billion, ¢81.8 billion, ¢71 billion, ¢80.0 billion, ¢86.1 billion and ¢82.9 billion respectively.

On the other hand, cheque transactions in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2021 were estimated at ¢17.0 billion, ¢15.5 billion, ¢18.3 billion, ¢17.5 billion, ¢15.7 billion, ¢17.9 billion, ¢16.4 billion, ¢16.4 billion, ¢15.6 billion, ¢16.2 billion, ¢18.5 billion and ¢18.9 billion respectively.

Increasingly, mobile money transactions continue to relegate cheque transactions to the background with many consumers now preferring to walk to a mobile money vendor to deposit or transfer money.

Banks will therefore have to dig deep to innovative and come out with solutions similar to that of mobile money or if they have enhanced its in order to compete.

Alternatively, they could partner the telecom firms to take advantage of the fast growing market. Already, the Bank of Ghana has been piloting its digital currency – the e-Cedi, a move which is expected to be launched soon to boost the cash lite agenda.