MTN missing from BoG’s list of approved Mobile Money operators

0
Eli Hini, CEO - MTN MobileMoney Ltd - the man who led the charge at MTN to democratize digital finance

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has released a list of 26 approved electronic money issuers (mobile money operators) and payment service providers in the country, but conspicuously missing on that list is the mobile money market leader, MTN.

The list, published on the BoG website and dated April 1, 2021, named five dedicated electronic money issuers and 21 payment service providers.

The five mobile money operators named were Airtel Mobile Commerce (Ghana) Limited, GCB G-Money, Yup Ghana Limited, Vodafone Mobile Financial Services Limited and Zeepay Ghana Limited.

But MTN MobileMoney Limited, which boasts of a commanding lead on the market, and has recently taken the lead to implement ID requirement for mobile money cash out, is not on the the list of approved operators.

Localization deadline extended 

Checks by TechGH24 revealed that MTN was not put on the list because they are yet to meet the 30% mobile money business localization requirement, and they have been given time to complete that.

It would be recalled that BoG extended the deadline to meet the 30% localization of mobile money operations as required by the Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019 (Act 987) to 15 January, 2022.

But the source said, being absent from the list of operators which have regulatory approval does not mean MTN MobileMoney cannot operate legally.

It explained that each of the operators were given time to meet the 30% requirement while they were still operating and the same gesture has been extended to MTN.

The new list follows the passage of the Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019 (Act 987) in accordance with the licensing application pack for payment service providers.

The Act amended and consolidated the laws relating to mobile money, payment systems and payment services to regulate institutions that carry on payment services and electronic money business.

Below is the full list of approved mobile money operators and electronic payment service providers.

Dedicated electronic money issuers (MoMo operators)

  1. Airtel Mobile Commerce (Ghana) Limited
  2. GCB G-Money
  3. Yup Ghana Limited
  4. Vodafone Mobile Financial Services Limited
  5. Zeepay Ghana Limited

Electronic payment service providers

  1. AppsNmobile Solutions Limited
  2. Bsystems Limited
  3. Cellulant Ghana Limited
  4. Dreamoval Limited
  5. Emergent Payments Ghana Limited
  6. Etranzact Limited
  7. ExpressPay Ghana Limited
  8. Fast Pace Transfer Limited
  9. Global Accelerex Ghana Ltd
  10. Halges Financial Technologies Limited
  11. Hubtel Limited
  12. IT Consortium Limited
  13. MFS Ghana Limited
  14. Moolre Limited
  15. Nfortics Ghana Limited
  16. Nsano Limited
  17. PaySwitch Ghana Limited
  18. Transsnet Payments Ghana Limited
  19. Techfin Innovations Ltd
  20. ZappGhana Limited
  21. Titan Payment Systems

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here