Mr Samuel Sarpong, the Chief Operating Officer of GCB Bank, said the introduction of the mobile banking services had been necessitated by the rapid change in the financial landscape of the country.He noted that: “Interesting changes in consumer preferences with regard to financial services have also accounted for the realisation of this innovation”.

Services included in the Mobile Banking solution ranged from Balance Enquiry, Mini Statement, Pin Change, Airtime Top-up, Bill Payment, Funds Transfer, Mobile Money and Fee Pay.“With these products, customers will be able to check current balances and transactions, pay bills including DSTV and GoTV as well as transfer funds between GCB accounts. Clients will also be able to send and receive funds from their bank accounts to any other mobile money wallet and vice versa,” he said.

Mr Sarpong said the efficacy of the Mobile Banking Service had, prior to the launch, resulted in queue-less and virtually “empty banking halls although we are processing a higher number of transactions daily.”“Today almost all of these transactions are done on the ATMs and on phone,” he added.

Mr Sarpong said the Mobile Banking solution works on the USSD platform, hence internet connection was not required to access and use the service, adding that every calibre of phone can be used to access the service.He said one significant feature of the service was that it linked the traditional bank account to the Mobile Money wallet, irrespective of the Telco of the subscriber.

He said inter-operability was important because “as the biggest and the leading financial institution in the country, when we take such giant steps, its impact on the nation is immense.”Mr Sarpong encouraged corporate institutions to take advantage of the service to expand their customer-base and enhance their cash management.