Vodafone To Launch Mobile Platform

Vodafone Ghana will soon introduce its mobile money platform-Vodafone Cash to Ghanaians, Finance Director at Vodafone Ghana, Keneth Gomado has noted.

Vodafone Cash, according to Mr Gomado, draws inspiration from M-Pesa, Kenya's revolutionary mobile money platform introduced by Vodafone in 2009.

Currently, M-Pesa has acquired nearly 17 million active customers and as many as 186,000 agents worldwide.

A total of more than US $1.1 billion worth of person-to-person transactions are made on a monthly basis.

Speaking at the 14^th edition of the Ghana Banking Awards in Accra recently, Mr Gomado urged players in Ghana's banking sector not to regard the delivery of mobile money services by telecommunication companies as a threat.

He said extending financial services to the majority of the unbanked has proved a daunting challenge for banking institutions in Ghana.

Out of Ghana’s population of 25.9 million, a whopping 18.13 million, representing 70 percent of the population, is unbanked.

The World Bank has indicated that only 7.77 million, representing 30 percent of Ghana’s population, have accounts with banks in the country.

'The advent of technology and its correspondent mobile money platforms introduced by telecommunication companies is, however, contributing immensely in bridging the gap between the unbanked and financial services.

'These notwithstanding, the posture of banks to the growing phenomenon have been everything but encouraging. Some of the comments that have emerged point to a concern that telcos are fast becoming pseudo-banks and are performing functions that should remain the exclusive preserve of the traditional banks.'

Banks should know that mobile money is not here to take away from the pie but to create and enlarge it, he said.

A business desk report