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MobileMoney Limited (MTN MoMo) says it is considering a reduction in service fees to attract more users and promote digital payments adoption in Ghana.
With about 14 million active Mobile Money customers as of June this year, the MTN MoMo says its strategy going forward is to adopt more innovative ways of pricing that safeguard the businesses and drives financial inclusion.
Head of Products and Services at Mobile Money Limited, Silvia Otuo Acheampong said: “We actually have not changed our pricing for a very long time but we know it has to be reduced because the demand is high. We were discussing our strategy for next year, and one thing that kept coming through was reviewing our pricing.”
She was speaking at the MoMo Stakeholders Forum organised by Mobile Money Limited under the theme: “Addressing Barriers to Digital Payments Adoption in Ghana, where key actors like the banks, Fintechs, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Bank of Ghana kept one voice on breaking barriers to inclusion.
Sylvia Otuo Acheampong, who spoke on behalf of Mr Shaibu Haruna, the CEO of Mobile Money Limited, said they would soon engage their customers in due course and let them know of the dynamic pricing coming on board, adding that it would be in the interest of all parties.
She said cost had been a barrier to digital payments adoption because nobody wanted to incur cost for doing something that had become a lifestyle and called on Fintech, MNOs to work and collaborate to reduce cost and enable digital experience and digital service for the customer.
“Consistent partnership is central to any ecosystem and we the key players must constantly collaborate to bridge the gap in the digital financial space, fight fraud and promote education so we don’t have different agenda being pushed by different partners,” she said.
MTN has already reduced money transfer fees to 0.75% while others maintain a 1% fee. Meanwhile, Vodafone Cash and GhanaPay completely free transfers to all network.
Contrary to that trend, MTN attempted to increase the maximum cash out fees from ghs10 to ghs20 but has to pull it back due to widespread public outcry.
Meanwhile, besides pricing, some Ghanaians had not developed an interest in exploring the digital financial space because of fraud and complications associated with that space.
Mr Kwame Oppong, Director, Fintech & Innovation, Bank of Ghana, in his presentation on how to create an effective and efficient ecosystem, stated some five key policy pillars that industry actors must uphold.
He said there must be simplified onboarding in their transactions where they improve access to basic services, engage in consumer education, consumer recourse mechanisms to build trust.
“Ensure data privacy and protection to secure consumers and conduct market supervision to ensure safety,” he added.
Mr Achie Hesse, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement System (GhiPSS), urged the stakeholders to concentrate more on segments of the population that were not within the digital space, and address their payment needs.
“You can develop all the various AI, technologies but if you don’t go down and ask who am I addressing, nothing would happen. There should be incentives to convince the informal sector to move away from the cash system to digital payments.”
The MTN Mobile Money Limited have about 150, 000 merchants that actively accept mobile money, 280, 000 agents in active business and hopes to sustain a 20 per cent year-on-year growth.
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