Ghanaians are keeping money in digital wallets rather than rushing to cash out, with MobileMoney Fintech Limited (MMFL) reporting a fundamental shift in transaction behaviour in the year since the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) was abolished.
Speaking at MMFL’s maiden Fintech Partner Exchange held in Accra on April 2, 2026, Chief Executive Officer Shaibu Haruna said the pattern that defined the E-Levy era, where customers transferred funds electronically only to immediately withdraw cash to sidestep additional transaction costs at the point of payment, has now largely reversed.
“What we are seeing now is a clear shift. Customers are more inclined to complete transactions digitally, particularly through peer-to-peer transfers, instead of cashing out,” Haruna said.
The practical consequence, he explained, is that money is circulating within digital channels for longer periods, boosting liquidity and payment efficiency across the broader financial system.
The E-Levy, introduced at 1.75 percent before being revised to 1 percent, applied to mobile money transfers, bank transfers, and payments between digital wallets and bank accounts. Parliament repealed the law on March 26, 2025, and President John Dramani Mahama signed the repeal into law on April 2, 2025. The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) directed all charging entities to stop deductions that same day.
The behavioural evidence emerging from MMFL aligns with broader industry data. MMFL processed approximately 8.4 billion transactions in 2025, an 18 percent year-on-year increase, at an average of 23 million transactions daily. A December 2025 survey by KPMG found that 73 percent of retail customers in Ghana used mobile money weekly that year, up seven percentage points from the previous year.
Haruna stressed that the surge in digital activity deepens Ghana’s ambitions for a cash-lite economy by improving payment transparency, reducing transactional costs over time, and expanding financial access for small and medium enterprises.
On the security side, Haruna warned that fraud has evolved well beyond traditional mobile money scams. “This is no longer just about mobile money fraud. It is digital crime, and it spans multiple channels, including e-commerce. The point of attack could be anywhere along the payment chain,” he said.
He called for a centralised, real-time fraud monitoring platform involving banks, fintech operators, telecom companies, regulators, and law enforcement, and expressed confidence that a clear implementation framework would be in place within 90 days.
The forum, held under the theme “Uniting Against Fraud: Strengthening Ecosystem Collaboration,” also marked MMFL’s first engagement as a standalone fintech entity following the completion of its structural separation from Scancom PLC (MTN Ghana) on March 31, 2026.
