Ghana is to launch the second phase of inter-operationality in the mobile money market today November 28, 2018. This operation should let the country offer total inter-operationality of electronic payment methods. This was revealed by the minister of information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on November 24, 2018, during a press briefing.

This involves interconnection of the mobile money accounts on Vodafone, MTN and AirtelTigo to E-zwich, a commutation and smart card payment system in Ghana managed by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS).

E-zwich ensures online and offline transactions like cash deposit, withdrawals, and sales in all the regions even when there is no good communication network.

With the inter-operationality, E-zwich card holders and mobile money account owners can now easily transfer money from one platform to the other.

During the first phase, mobile money accounts were interconnected to Ghana National Switch system (gh-link), GhIPSS’ commutation system which interconnects financial institutions and third-party payment service providers. It is a local electronic payment system based on the national bank card with channels like automated teller machines, sales points, and the web.

With the second phase of the inter-operationality in the mobile money market, Ghana completes the triangle of financial inclusion which now links bank and mobile money accounts to E-zwich cards. The total inter-operationality supporting larger financial inclusion of the unbanked takes Ghana further in its ambition to become a cashless society.