By Jibril Abdul Mumuni
Accra, Sept. 22, GNA – Financial institutions including banks are increasingly targeting Ghana’s informal sector as the country accelerates its transition towards digital payments.
The renewed target comes at a time when digital transactions continue to record strong growth across Ghana, driven by mobile money, instant payment systems, and digital banking platforms.
At the launch of Visa Accept in Accra on Friday, officials from Visa Ghana and Access Bank said many micro-merchants remained excluded from formal financial services despite significant gains in digital payment adoption over the past decade.
Visa Accept is a smartphone-based payment acceptance technology that allows merchants to receive contactless card payments directly on compatible mobile phones without requiring traditional point-of-sale terminals widely known as POS.
Mr Fabrice Konan, the Country Head of Visa Ghana, said the initiative was intended to address a longstanding challenge facing thousands of small businesses that continue to rely largely on cash transactions.
“We know that this country has thousands of micro merchants who currently are not accepting digital payments,” he said.
Mr Konan noted that the inability to accept electronic payments often resulted in missed sales opportunities.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of rapid growth in Ghana’s digital payments ecosystem.
The Payment Systems Oversight Annual Report 2025 by the Bank of Ghana showed that mobile money transaction values rose by 50.8 per cent to GHS4.54 trillion in 2025 from GHS 3.01 trillion in 2024, while active mobile money accounts increased to 26.7 million.
The report also recorded substantial growth in mobile banking, internet banking, and instant payment transactions.
It noted that although POS terminals increased by 16.2 per cent to 18,117 devices in 2025, cash remained widely used, particularly among small and informal enterprises.
The report further noted that Ghana had about 80 POS terminals per 100,000 adults, highlighting the need for broader payment acceptance infrastructure.
Mr Eugene Ocansey, the Executive Director Retail and SME Banking for Access Bank Ghana, said digital payment platforms could help address that POS related challenges by creating verifiable transaction histories for businesses that currently operated outside formal structures.
“One critical challenge we have when it comes to SMEs is that many of them are outside the formal economy. The only way we can support them to grow is to find a way to formalise them,” he said.
He said transaction data generated through digital payments could help financial institutions develop products and extend credit to previously underserved businesses.
“The more you can get access to that data, then you can also lend to them and support them,” he added.
He said that merchant education and awareness would be critical to increasing adoption of digital payment tools among small businesses.
“We need to convince the micro-merchant. We need to show them that accepting digital payments can help them make more sales and become part of the formal economy,” he said.
He added that broadening payment acceptance would not only improve convenience for consumers but could also support economic growth by bringing more businesses into the formal financial system and increase access to banking services.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Jibril Abdul Mumuni
Email: [email protected]