Rural banks make remarkable breakthrough in digital banking

… so far recorded about 700,000 transactions valued at GH?324 million

By Seth KRAMPAH, Ho

In their quest to attain the new edge of development in financial intermediation, the rural and community banks have operationalized their digital banking platforms.

This major breakthrough has been realised through the industry’s long-awaited Financial Sector Development Project (FSDP) which was sponsored by the Government of Ghana and the World Bank.

This massive support to the rural banking industry is a clear indication of the strategic importance that the Government of Ghana attaches to the role of this banking subsector in deepening financial inclusion in the country.

Now customers of rural and community banks in Ghana can perform a host of banking services just by signing onto a special USSD code*992#.

Digital banking services currently available on this unique platform include withdrawal of funds, transfer of funds, bill payments, and making account statement and cheque requests, amongst others, right from the comfort of customers’ mobile phones with the RCB Mobile Banking App ready to be deployed.

The pilot phase of the USSD platform has enrolled a little over 81,000 customers of rural and community banks and recorded approximately 700,000 transactions with a total value of GH?323million.

The Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank PLC, Alex Kwasi Awuah made these disclosures at the just ended 23^rd Rural Banks’ CEOs Conference put together by the ARB Apex Bank in Ho on the theme, “Positioning Rural Banking at the Centre of the National Financial Inclusion Agenda”

In addition, ARB Apex Bank is preparing to distribute 5,000 Point of Sale (PoS) devices to rural bank agents across the country. According to the Managing Director, so far 2,000 of these devices have been processed and distribution to the various rural and community banks would begin soon, while the distribution of the remaining 3000 devises would be completed by June 2025.

The RCB Agents would include restaurants, supermarkets, stand-alone money operators, schools, etc., that have signed up for the Agency Banking business with rural banks.

This according Mr Awuah is expected to bring greater convenience to rural bank customers, who would be able to perform banking transactions without having to go through the toil of visiting distant banking halls.

This he said would also reduce the overhead costs of constructing new branch offices for RCBs since this additional PoS channel of delivery offers almost all banking services that the physical bank branches perform.

The Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank acknowledges that the implementation of the Financial Sector Development Project has enabled the successful introduction of the Deposit Mobilization Module on the POS devices for Susu Collections.

The PoS devices according to him are linked to the T24 Core Banking Application and facilitates real time transactions by the Susu Mobile Bankers.

“We have deployed 688 PoS devices to RCBs for Susu operations. We have received additional requests for 823 PoS devices to be supplied to our banks. So far, we have recorded 491,743 transactions with a total value of GH?111,235,224.05,” he stressed

He has therefore emphasised that this innovative method of deposit mobilization would assist in eliminating the rampant cash suppression that has characterized the Susu operations in some of the banks.

Mr Awuah has also hinted that work is almost complete on the Internet Banking solution to help fully integrate the customer banking experience for the RCBs.

By this development all Chief Executive Officers of the one hundred and forty-seven rural banks in the country have urged to embrace these new platforms and commit fully to ensure the expansion of the services to their teeming existing customers, and non-customers to the platforms.

The Managing Director reminded all CEOs of the rural and community banks that they have a responsibility to assist the Government of Ghana to achieve the objective of its financial inclusion strategy, while they also expand their businesses.

This the MD believes, would bring enormous boost to the economic growth of the country.

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