Country Context
In 2008 the country’s central bank – the Bank of Ghana (BoG) – issued branchless banking regulations, which enabled banks to leverage digital technologies in the financial inclusion space, but limited the role played by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). By signing on to the Maya Declaration in 2012 and the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) in 2014, the Government of Ghana has made a strong commitment to enabling digital financial inclusion. To help manage the growing digital financial services sector in Ghana—which grew from an estimated 150,000 active users in 2011to more than 4 million in 2015—the BoG released new guidelines governing e-money issuers and the use of agents in financial services in July 2015 which have been widely hailed as best practice.
As of late 2015, there were 6 main providers of digital financial services (DFS) in the country: MTN, Tigo, Airtel, Vodafone, Fidelity Bank and e-Zwich. MTN, Tigo, Airtel and Vodafone are all mobile network operators (MNOs) offering mobile money services throughout the country. In addition to these DFS-centric financial service providers, there are more than 27 commercial banks, 60 non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), 138 rural and community banks, 503 licensed MFIs and hundreds of licensed individual susu collectors in the country.
 Ghana Year One Wave Report |  |
Key Metrics
Source: FII Survey of Ghana, conducted December 2014-January 2015; sample size=[3,002]
 Mobile Phone | Total | Male | Female | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Own Mobile Phone | 91% | 94% | 88% | 94% | 87% |
| Own or Can Borrow Mobile Phone | 96% | 98% | 95% | 98% | 95% |
| Own Sim Card | 91% | 95% | 88% | 95% | 87% |
| Own or Can Borrow Sim Card | 96% | 98% | 95% | 98% | 95% |
 Bank Accounts | Total | Male | Female | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Own Bank Account | 34% | 41% | 28% | 41% | 26% |
| Own or Have Access to Bank Account | 36% | 43% | 30% | 43% | 28% |
| Active Bank Account User (Past 90 Days) | 26% | 32% | 21% | 32% | 19% |
 Mobile Money Use | Total | Male | Female | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Have Ever Used MM | 29% | 32% | 27% | 32% | 27% |
| Active MM User (past 90 days) | 25% | 28% | 23% | 27% | 23% |
| Registered MM User | 20% | 22% | 18% | 23% | 18% |
| Registered Active MM User | 17% | 20% | 15% | 19% | 15% |
See the CGAP data visualization here.