In 2023, Ghana’s payment, clearing, and settlement infrastructure improved, supported by technological advancements and evolving customer preferences, according to the Bank of Ghana’s Payment Systems Oversight Annual Report 2023.

The central bank approved 27 products and services from various regulated financial institutions compared with a total of 21 approvals in 2022.

Inbound remittance and mobile banking services recorded the highest number of approvals.

The total volume of Ghana Interbank Settlement (GIS) transactions in 2023 increased by 2.1 per cent.

Similarly, the value of transactions increased by 49.0 per cent to GH¢3,443.98 billion in 2023, from GH¢2,312.06 billion in 2022.

The volume of inter-bank cheques cleared was reduced by 244,995 in 2023, representing a 4.3 per cent decline compared to a decline of 3.4 per cent in 2022.

The GT-Link platform recorded an increase in both transaction volumes and values in the year under review.

ATM transactions continued to dominate on the GT-Link platform and constituted 98.3 per cent of transactions.

The number of registered internet banking and mobile banking customers increased in 2023, by 16.6 per cent and 51.5 per cent respectively, while transaction volumes for both channels recorded an increase of 30.7 and 2.5 per cent growth, respectively.

The total volume of mobile money transactions increased to 6.81 billion in 2023, from 5.07 billion in 2022, representing a 34.3 per cent growth.

Additionally, the total value of transactions increased significantly by 79.0 per cent to GH¢1.92 trillion in 2023, from GH¢1.07 trillion in 2022.

The number of active mobile money customers and agents also showed a growth of 2.6 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively.

Float balances held by banks increased by 44.3 per cent to GH¢18.86 billion in 2023, from GH¢13.07 billion in 2022.

The rise in overall transactional volume was due to a surge in wallet usage among engaged mobile money customers.

The top five transactions performed by users according to the value of transactions included the following: cash-in, cash-out, bank-to-wallet (B2W), wallet-to-bank (W2B) and person-to-person (P2P) transactions.

Together, these transactions represented 42.0 per cent of the total transaction values in 2023. Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI) transaction values and volumes both recorded a 24.0 per cent growth in 2023.

Transferring funds from one wallet to another remained the most used case for mobile money interoperability.

Wallet-to-Wallet transaction activities remained the dominant transaction type for 2023, with the product accounting for 83.0 per cent of total transaction value for the year.

Similarly, Wallet-to-Bank transactions accounted for 17.0 per cent of transactions in 2023.