GhanaPay is a mobile money wallet like MTN MoMo or Telecel Cash, with one difference: it is run by the banks, through GhIPSS, the payment system the Bank of Ghana set up, rather than by a phone network. You choose a bank to hold the wallet, and it works on any network’s SIM.

Opening a wallet

You need a Ghana Card and a registered SIM on any network. A bank account is not needed.

Three ways in:

  1. Dial *707#, or use the GhanaPay app, choose the bank you want the wallet with and enter your details. Some banks then ask you to visit a branch to confirm your Ghana Card before the wallet is fully open.
  2. At a branch of a participating bank, with your Ghana Card.
  3. At a GhanaPay agent.

An SMS confirms the wallet when it is ready. Choose a bank you can reach: the branch is where problems are sorted out.

What it does

  • Send money to any MoMo wallet, on any network, and to bank accounts and e-zwich cards
  • Buy airtime and data
  • Pay merchants that accept it
  • Standing instructions - a transfer that repeats on its own, for rent or a regular allowance
  • A sponsored wallet, which lets a parent or employer send money to another GhanaPay wallet for a set purpose
  • Link to your bank accounts, to move money between them and the wallet

GhIPSS has advertised its transfers as free, apart from any government levy; the E-Levy was repealed in 2025. Check the current charges in the menu or with your bank before relying on a transfer being free.

— The E-Levy is gone

Is it better than MoMo?

For most people it is a second wallet, not a replacement. MTN MoMo is accepted by almost every trader in Accra, and GhanaPay by far fewer. Its strengths are a wallet that does not depend on your phone network, and one that sits next to your bank account.

Closing it or moving it

GhIPSS publishes no closing procedure of its own; the bank that holds the wallet does it. Move the balance out first - to a MoMo wallet or your bank account - then take your Ghana Card to that bank and ask. To have the wallet with a different bank, ask the first bank how, or call the GhIPSS line below.

Help

GhIPSS’s toll-free line is 0800 000 707, and the bank that holds your wallet answers for it too. If money has gone to the wrong number, call straight away: like any transfer, the sooner it is reported, the more likely it can be held.

The same fraud rules apply

Nobody from GhIPSS or a bank will ask for your PIN. A call or text asking for it, or telling you to “reverse” a payment sent to you by mistake, is the same fraud that targets MoMo.

— Mobile money — Fintech apps in Ghana — Opening a bank account