When GhanaPay Mobile Money was launched in 2022 in partnership with the Ghana Association of Banks, the objective was to complement the progress made by Telcos in promoting financial inclusion by giving banks an opportunity to participate more effectively in serving the informal sector through a bank-led mobile money service with simplified onboarding requirements.

For me, GhanaPay Mobile Money has always represented something bigger than another payment product. It represents an opportunity for banks to reach customers they have traditionally struggled to serve while strengthening financial inclusion through a platform that sits within the banking ecosystem.

For a long time, however, conversations around GhanaPay have centered on ownership, enrolment etc. How many customers have signed up? Which bank has the highest numbers? Those are important questions, but I have always felt that they tell only part of the story.

The 2026 first-half performance report tells us something much more interesting.

Between January and June this year, GhanaPay Mobile Money processed 6.06 million transactions, representing a 52.95% increase over the same period last year. More striking, however, is the value of those transactions. Transaction value grew by 183.36%, from GHS 1.27 billion to GHS 3.60 billion in just six months, while customer enrolment increased by 22.01% to 1.83 million.

That difference matters.

Customer enrolment is growing steadily, but transaction values are growing at a much faster pace. This suggests existing customers are becoming more active and increasingly trusting GhanaPay with higher-value transactions. It tells us that the conversation is beginning to shift from simply getting people onto the platform to getting them to use the service in different ways.

For banks, that should be an encouraging signal.

Banks are commercial institutions. They invest in products and services that create value for customers while generating sustainable returns for the business. What the latest GhanaPay data demonstrates is that financial inclusion and commercial opportunities do not have to exist as separate conversations.

As more customers actively use GhanaPay to send and receive money, pay for goods and services, and manage their day-to-day financial transactions, the platform begins to create real business value. Higher transaction activity translates into stronger customer relationships, increased engagement with digital channels, and opportunities to grow revenue, while at the same time extending formal financial services to more people.

That, to me, is where the real opportunity lies.

• The challenge now is no longer whether GhanaPay has potential. The opportunity is for participating institutions to unlock more of that potential.

• Doing so will require more than simply making the service available. It will require banks to make GhanaPay visible across their digital channels, educate customers on how and when to use it, empower frontline staff to promote it confidently, and integrate it into their broader digital banking strategies. Like every successful payment product, adoption is driven not just by availability but by awareness, convenience, and consistent customer engagement.

None of this diminishes the important role that existing mobile money operators continue to play. If anything, it reinforces the strength of Ghana’s digital payments ecosystem, where banks, mobile money operators, fintechs and payment service providers each contribute to expanding customer choice and accelerating financial inclusion. GhanaPay should be viewed as another interoperable channel that gives customers more ways to access and use digital financial services.

When I look at the first-half numbers, I see more than impressive growth. I see evidence that customers are finding value in the service and using it with greater confidence. More importantly, I see a reminder that financial inclusion can also be good business.

Perhaps that is the conversation we should be having more often—not whether banks should invest in financial inclusion, but how financial inclusion itself can become a sustainable growth strategy.

By: Eunice Asantewaa Ankomah – Head, Brand and Communications