Category: FinTech

A new mobile money platform is hitting the market, through which users can send and receive money from foreign countries at no cost.

The mobile app named Chipper Cash, also enables users to send and receive money from one telecom service provider to another, for instance in the case of Uganda, from MTN Mobile Money, to Airtel Money.

Chipper Cash is the brainchild of Ham Serunjogi, a Ugandan based in the US city of San Francisco.

Mr Serunjogi tells Chimpreports, the money transfer platform is the first of its kind in Africa, and is already operational in Uganda and Tanzania.

“Chipper Cash will facilitate completely free and instantaneous peer to peer payments, both within a country as well as from one country to another,” he said. (more…)

There is an increasing shift away from the use of cheques to electronic payments channels for various transactions. Although cheques continue to have the single largest share, it is growing at a slower pace while other electronic payments are experiencing a faster growth in patronage.

This is demonstrated in the half year summary performance of GhIPSS product.

The dominance of cheques begun to reduce following the introduction of electronic payment products. In the first half of 2016, it accounted for 39 per cent of products and services offered through the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS) platform. (more…)

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhiPSS) Limited, Archie Hesse has called for a Technology Regulator to control Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications and infrastructures.

He explained that the regulator would ensure that the soft and hard ICT infrastructures, as well as products and services, to ensure they were foolproof and met international standards.

Mr Hesse made the call at a Fintech Summit in Accra on Friday organised by the Accra-based English Radio Station, Citi FM.

The programme formed part of the station’s business festival under the theme “The Future of the Financial Technology Ecosystem in Ghana”.

It was under the auspices of GhiPSS, Hubtel, Fidelity Bank, Payswitch.

Mr Hesse said Europe and Asia have technology regulators and Ghana could also do same.

Touching on the topic of the programme, he said, Fintech meaning financial technology was about automating the processes and transactions of the banks.

“Fintech is nothing new.  It is an old phenomenon that has caught up with us,” he said, stressing “Fintech helps do things better and promote synergy,” he said.

The Head of Payment Systems at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Setor Amediku said the BoG was developing a law to regulate the Fintech Industry.

He said since the Fintech held cash, there was the need to regulate them to promote financial and price stability.

Dr Amediku said there was the need for the law to protect the cyber and data security of individuals and companies.

Currently, there were 71 Fintech companies in the country.

Dr Amediku said financial inclusion had increased from 41 to 58 per cent, saying the objective of the government was to achieve 75 per cent financial inclusion by the year 2020.

The Chief Executive Officer of Hubtel, Alex Bram said though regulation was good, over regulation would stifle the industry.

He said Fintech was breaking the bureaucracy in accessing services from the state, and urged the state institutions to embrace technology to improve on their services.

Technology, Mr Bram said was bringing convenience and value to the lives of individuals.

The Chief Technology Officer of Payswitch, Emmanuel Osei-Akoto said Fintech was breaking the barriers of banking and giving opportunity to access financial services.

He said banks should be service providers and a storage house of money, saying banks should deploy a system in which they could order goods for their customers.

The Director of Strategic Partnership, Dr William Derban said banks had always embraced technology in their operations, saying the adoption of Automated Teller Machines and other systems were part of technology.

He called for stronger partnership among the banks, telecom companies and the banks to promote the Fintech industry.

The Chief Executive Officer of Rancard, Kofi Dadzie said Fintech was nothing new and came about through the operations of banks.

He said Fintech companies bring innovation and disruptions in the technology sector, indicating that Fintech would be the future of banking as it would provide easy and cheap capital to the entire citizenry.

Source: The Ghanaian Times

Participants at the Financial Technology Summit organised as part of the Citi Business Festival have emphasized the need to create a financial ecosystem that will guarantee the safety of funds with financial technology (fintech) companies.

According to them, the changing phase of technology makes it imperative for some level of regulation to enhance the security of electronic transactions in the future.

The panel at the summit was made up of the Head of Payment Systems, at the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Setor Amediku, the CEO of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIIPSS), Mr. Archie Hesse, the CTO of PaySwitch, Emmanuel Osei Akoto, the CEO of Rancard Solutions, Kofi Dadzie, the CEO of Hubtel- Alex Brahm, and William Derban from Fidelity Bank.

Discussing the topic the Future of Financial Ecosystem in Ghana, most members of the panel stressed the need for some supervision.

For the CEO of Rancard Solutions, Kofi Dadzie, the central bank would have to catch up with the speed of innovation since electronic transactions will change the phase of the country’s payment system in the future.

He warned that the type of disruption that will hit the fintech industry may not necessarily come from big organisations whose activities are constantly being monitored by the regulators.

“We will not see the pace of innovation that we need coming from large state organizations and from large corporate, simply because of the type of regulation and the space in which they operate and the nature of large organization”.

According to him, the Bank of Ghana must do more than just setting regulations for fintechs and incorporate their activities into the operations of the financial system.

On his part, the CEO of Hubtel, Alex Bram, cautioned that the level of regulation will depend on the nature of transaction undertaken by fintechs.

Meanwhile, the Head of Payment Systems at the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Setor Amediku stated that the payment systems are too critical for the stability of prices, hence the Bank of Ghana will be tough in regulating the area to prevent a collapse of the financial system.

Dr Amediku maintained that the non-existence of proper regulation to supervise the activities of fintechs could distort the financial system, affecting economic stability.

He, therefore, urged the fintechs and telcos to take a six months window of opportunity created by the Bank of Ghana to upgrade their security system to meet a new requirement that will soon be passed into a law.

“I think you are all aware that we have not regularized MTN Mobile Money, Vodafone Cash, Airtel Tigo Cash and the fntechs. So you have a window of opportunity of six months to put their house in order to meet the minimum cybersecurity regulations”.

Dr Amediku warned that the BoG will not allow the system to be abused like it happened in the microfinance industry, leading to the loss of millions of cedis.

The CEO of GhIPSS, Mr Archie Hesse maintained that the growth of fintechs shows that there must be more collaborations between fintechs, regulators and financial institutions.