The CEO of Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlements Systems (GhIPSS), Clara Arthur has announced that she is currently seeking the collaboration of the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) to redefine the GhanaPay wallet and ensure that it does exactly what it was set up to do.
She was speaking in an exclusive interview with Techfocus24 on the side lines of the State of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems (SIIPS) Africa 2025 Report in Eswatini.
GhIPSS in collaboration with the 24 commercial banks in Ghana, set up the GhanaPay mobile money wallet, which is the only wallet that allows totally free transfers to all wallets and accounts in the country, in addition to several other advantages.
GhanaPay is a bank-based wallet; and because all the cash float within the mobile money ecosystem is kept in the banks and the banks invest those money and make profit, they have elected to allow all transactions on the GhanaPay wallet free for users, in addition to paying interest to customers on the balance in their wallets.
In spite of the its several advantages over other mobile money and digital wallets in the country, it has not gained the expected traction, largely because the banks have not done enough to drive its uptake and usage. So, it continues to lurk in the shadows of the ecosystem, while the telco-owned wallets, particularly MTN MoMo, continue to dominate the market even though they charge for all transfers.
Clara Arthur noted that GhanaPay is a fantastic idea but execution may have been a challenge, which is why it is not gaining the traction it deserves.
“I am currently working on a paper to be presented to the Governor of the central bank on what we need to do with GhanaPay,” she said. “We are also engaging the banks through the Ghana Association of Bankers to ensure that whatever modification is required to make GhanaPay deliver on its promise is done.”
She assured the public that the intentional collaborative efforts being made now, will eventually ensure that GhanaPay does exactly what it was set up to do.
“Give us a bit of time and you will see GhanaPay bouncing back and doing exactly what it was designed to do,” she said.
