Mobile money business is gradually taking over some banking activities in Ghana. The core function of banks which is deposit and withdrawal of money is gradually shifting the attention from the banks to the streets.
“Why then should I go to the bank to join long queues while I can just cross over from my house to a mobile merchant who will offer the same service as that of a teller in a cage” A customer said.
From a quick survey and analysis conducted at the Korle Bu Teaching hospital, there are more than 20 merchants in and around the hospital withdrawing money for patients and visitors alike.
In an interview with a lady at the hospital, she had to go round to 5 mobile money merchants because the other merchants had run out of cash, till she went to a sixth merchant where she was able to withdraw her money whereas there are more than 10 ATm’s of the various banks in the hospital with no person standing by the machine.
She could have saved herself from the hustle of moving from one merchant to the other and just use the ATM. There a lot of people just like her who would also not use the machine but resort to going to the mobile merchants for their transactions.
Some customers were of the view that the charges that comes with using the ATM is quite expensive, while others also said the machine malfunctions sometimes and it does not make transactions to be done easily. They prefer mobile money because it is more convenient.
There are over one million merchants approximately in Ghana. In every corner of the streets, one would see a mobile merchant transacting his or her business.
There are 16.4 mobile money accounts in Ghana. This was made known at a meeting of mobile money stakeholders in August last year. This research shows that people patronize the use of mobile money the most in Ghana as compared to using ATM’s or going to the bank.
Mobile money transactions these days enable home users to even pay their utilities. Students can also pay their fees via mobile money.
Mobile money these days also helps in performing basic banking functions in the comfort of your home like transferring money from your bank account to your mobile money wallet without having to walk to the bank to perform such transaction.
