Mobile money no threat to banks - Amoabeng

The advent of money transfer by means of cellular phones poses no danger to the survival of traditional banks, founder of UT Holdings, Kofi Amoabeng, has stated.

Contrary to talk that the service would soon collapse banking, Mr Amoabeng believed mobile money would enhance the operations of financial institutions and needed to be embraced.

“I feel it is going to make things easier for the banks; the banks have to embrace it,” he noted.

He explained on Accra FM’s Entertainment Capital on Saturday August 27 that the mobile money system has a “technology that has a wider financial inclusion and services that can be provided to rural people through the telco system”.

He told host DJ Premier that financial institutions should rather collaborate with the telcos to extend the service to every part of the country.

He was of the view that people had to be able to transact business with ease and “if somebody sends you money you do not have to necessarily go to, for example, UT Bank, before you cash your money”.

He, however, advocated the right partnership with the telcos to ensure that the system served the needs of the people.

Following calls to regulate the use of mobile money, the Bank of Ghana recently introduced new guidelines designed to promote the use of agents as channels for the delivery of financial services and to specify the necessary controls to mitigate associated risks and protect consumers of financial services.