GHANA:We are not in competition with banks – Telcos

Telecom companies in the country have rejected claims that they are in a fierce competition with banks following the introduction of mobile money sector in Ghana. 

According to the telcos, banks are rather benefiting hugely from the introduction of mobile money. Their assertions follows the debate on whether or not telcos are taking over customers of banks with the introduction of mobile money platforms.

Speaking on Citi FM’s consumer focus show “Business Today” hosted by Vivian Kai Lokko, the Head of mobile money at MTN Ghana, Eli Hini argued that banks stand to benefit greatly with mobile money as telcos are only augmenting banking services to promote financial inclusion in Ghana.

“We are not banks but we are service providers, the banks are in this whole business with us as partners to support what we do and therefore for all the transactions that people transact today the banks are the custodians, they hold these funds, they ensure that the funds are also protected from the customer’s point of view. Indeed the banks have a lot to gain. if you look at the current products and services and the way they have sold and distributed them most of which they have to do at very expensive cost and today they can do this at a very cheap cost using these channels.”

We are talking about the speed to distribute, cost convenient with the cost in distrusting banking products which becomes cheaper using mobile money. So the banks stand to again a lot’. He said. He called for better collaboration between the banks and telcos to improve the mobile money industry in the country as new products are added up to the platform.

“Today if you lose your phone you have not lost your money, the funds are still intact. So the benefit and opportunities to the bank is enormous, therefore the banks should be looking for better collaborations where product and services can be developed and the customer benefiting from those products and services so its distributed at affordable and competitive prices for them” According to the Bank of Ghana the patronage of mobile money continues to gain momentum, for the third year running value of transactions saw an increase from 2.4 billion cedis at 2013 to about 11.6 billion cedis in 2014. 

SOURCE:CITIFM