Digital payments have seen tremendous growth in the past couple of years. As of January 2021, 38.9 percent of the population aged 15 years and older had a mobile money account in Ghana. The share of mobile money users has increased over the previous three years as Ghanaians have gradually adopted a robust digital payment infrastructure.
However, cash remains a dominant preference for payments. One of the contributing factors for the preference of cash over digital payments is the high costs of digital payments that are often passed on to users, a lack of trust in, or familiarity with digital payments.
To curb these inefficiencies in digital payments, Cellulant has successfully rolled out Tingg, a digital payments platform enabling businesses and their consumers to accept and make payments seamlessly.
This announcement comes after the Central Bank of Ghana issued Cellulant a Payment Services Provider (PSP) License. The PSP License allows Cellulant to aggregate merchant services, process financial services, acquire merchants; deploy POS systems, and aggregate payments for banks, institutions, and the general public. The license is a requirement under the Payment Services Act 2019 which mandates that all Financial Technology or digital payments companies be licensed by the Bank of Ghana before they can operate in the country.
With a view to maintaining a sound financial system, promoting financial inclusion and innovation, and ensuring the safety, security, and stability of Ghana’s financial sector, The Bank of Ghana redefined the categories and permissible activities for financial technology companies with PSP enhanced licenses. Allowed services include mobile payments, bulk payments, and mobile banking. This license also allows for the provision of 3rd party payment gateways, a marketplace for duly regulated financial service providers, merchant acquisition and aggregation, the printing, and presentation of EMV cards, inward international remittance services, as well as limited use of closed-loop virtual cards.
Cellulant is launching Tingg in Ghana to provide the best customer experience for all persons and businesses looking to digitize their payments, collect, and disburse to customers today.
Cellulant Ghana Country Manager, Eric Kortey, expressed delight over the product launch and license acquisition, sharing his optimism about the future of payments and the Fintech ecosystem in the country. In his words, “We believe that Ghana is fast becoming a hub for fintech in Africa. Being licensed by the Bank of Ghana means a lot to the growth of our industry and opens doors to increased security and confidence in digital payments systems. Cellulant’s digital payments platform is allowing every Ghanaian to pay for their goods and services through any payment channel of their choice.”
Speaking on the rollout of Tingg he adds, “Cellulant is addressing the fragmentation of payments for both businesses and their consumers. The digital platform, which recently also launched in Zambia, offers simplified payment tools and processes for a merchant to manage their payments. As a result, businesses can allow their customers to make payments for goods and services using locally relevant payment options.”
Hundreds of businesses have already begun using Tingg to collect digitally from their customers across Ghana.