Ghana’s GhIPSS Instant Pay ranked most advanced in Africa for financial inclusivity

GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP) has been rated the most advanced instant payment system on the African continent, according to the State of Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (SIIPS) report for 2022 by AfricaNenda. The report highlighted that the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlements Systems (GhIPSS) platform has enabled Ghana to reach a maturity stage in terms of financial inclusion.

The AfricaNenda criteria assessed the instant pay solutions based on accessibility, affordability, and a wide range of use cases, and found that GhIPSS met all these requirements. The interoperability platform integrates banks, telcos, fintechs, and state institutions, allowing users to make payments with both feature and smartphone devices to wallets across networks, between digital wallets and bank accounts, and to merchants and state institutions. Payments can also be made via GHQR and physical PoS devices.

As a result of its success, representatives of various African central banks and payments switches, led by a team from AfricaNenda, are on a three-day tour to Accra to learn how GhIPSS and its partners have achieved such a high level of inclusivity in instant payments via multiple channels across the country.

Ghana’s broad interoperability ecosystem includes 55 financial institutions working together to facilitate the movement of funds across different payment platforms, with GhIPSS having processed a monthly average of 17.9 million Instant Payment transactions as of December 2022.

For the most part, the team will pay working visits to the Bank of Ghana and leading Fintechs such as Hubtel and IT Consortium to learn how they are making instant payments easily accessible and usable for all. The tour will also allow participants to establish relevant networks and contacts to foster further sharing of expertise.

In a nutshell, Ghana’s experience with instant payments and financial inclusivity can offer critical lessons and good practices for regulators and policymakers in other countries. Through this peer-learning event, AfricaNenda hopes to support the growth of Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems in Africa, which are critical to achieving universal financial inclusion by 2030.