ECOBANK Ghana and GhanaPost have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to turn 100 GhanaPost outlets into ECOBANK Xpress Points and bring banking to the doorstep of many more Ghanaians.
The two have agreed to rollout the strategy in phases, starting with an initial 78 outlets before the additional 22 will come on board. But ultimately, the plan is to turn all 360 GhanaPost outlets across the country into financial service and agency banking hubs to deepen financial inclusion.
At the last count, financial inclusion in Ghana had reached about 68%, leaving a 32% gap to be bridged. The two institutions believe that their collaborative strategy will go a long way in helping to bridge that gap.
As part of the partnership, ECOBANK will advance GHS1 million to GhanaPost to convert their outlets into ECOBANK Xpress Points, where they can offer some eight consumer banking services.
The services include deposits, withdrawals, bills payment, remittance, airtime purchase, interbank transfers, Visa and Master prepaid cards top-up as well as card on POS withdrawals.
ECOBANK will also be working with the commercial department of GhanaPost to run activations at the selected outlets to drive public attention to the new financial services being offered at those outlets.
Managing Director of ECOBANK Ghana, Dan Sackey, who signed on behalf of the bank noted that there could not have been any better partner for the rollout of the strategy than GhanaPost because the latter has outlets across the length and breadth of the country and is therefore well positioned to drive financial inclusion.
The idea, according to him, is to make it easier for Ghanaians everywhere in the country to have access to ECOBANK’s digital financial services and GhanaPost provides the widespread presence for that to be possible.
He therefore urged Ghanaians across the country to look for the XPRESS POINT signage at any GhanaPost outlet and know that they can always have access to ECOBANK services at those outlets without having to travel to any ECOBANK branch.
According to him, the customers get to have faster, safer and convenient banking when they access the GhanaPost ECOBANK Xpress Point, plus the several unserved and underserved population outside the banking sector also get to receive banking services at their doorstep.
For ECOBANK, he said they get to increase their presence across the country in a more cost-effective manner, and also get to drive financial inclusion.
Deputy Managing Director of GhanaPost, Kwaku Tabi Amponsah said GhanaPost is working hard to increase revenue and such strategic collaborations in agency banking are critical to that effort.
He believes that with such innovative partnerships, very soon “your post office will also be your bank” and GhanaPost will also be endowed with new competencies from their various banking and financial service partners.
According to him, the partnership with ECOBANK also puts GhanaPost in a position to help drive Government’s financial inclusion agenda even further, adding that it is his firm belief that the partnership will be for the long-term.
Chief Commercial Officer of GhanaPost, Kwesi Owusu-Abrokwa said the lack of ease of deposits has been the key missing chip in the digital finance puzzle, but the agency banking partnership between GhanaPost and ECOBANK will help a great deal in fixing that.
”Now our mothers, farmers, market women and others do not have to go to banks to make deposits or deal with susu collectors who can bolt with the money – just walk into any GhanaPost office and deposit your cash.
”In the same way our traders do not have to carry loads of cash to travel – they can deposit the money at GhanaPost anywhere in the country and when they get to where they need the cash to pay for goods, they can always go to GhanaPost and get cash for the payment. This ensures safety for them,” he said.
Kwesi Owusu-Abrokwa also told Techfocus24 that GhanaPost will in the future be partnering other banks for similar agency services to ensure that GhanaPost becomes a true financial inclusion hub.
Currently, ECOBANK Ghana has 67 branches, with 5000 plus Xpress Points across the country serving over 2.4 million customers. The location of ECOBANK Xpress Points are easily accessible via *770#, option 8.
