The Central Bank of Ghana has approved interest payments for money deposits related to virtual wallet service, offered by telecom operators. Subsequently, MTN Ghana quickly relayed the news to its Mobile Money users.

Users concerned are the ones that deposited cash between January 1 and June 30, 2016. Interests will be paid in two tranches for each of the first two quarters. Those for the first quarter will be paid on Sept 11 while the second quarter’s will be paid on Sept 18. For all those who made deposits in the Q3 and those to deposit in Q4, they will be informed about when their interests will be paid.

MTN Ghana believes the new opportunity will help it reinforce partnership with banks regarding provision of mobile-related financial services. Given Africa’s actual low-bancarization level, mobile banking confirms its position as a new growth niche for financial services. A growth that will certainly put pressure on microfinance, which for a long time has been the alternative to the issue of inaccessibility to banking services.

Idriss Linge