The COVID-19 pandemic brought about, more than anything else, an acceleration to the World of Digital Experience. Companies and individuals who thrived on traditional business rails and cash-based transactions felt the impact of COVID-19 severely.
A global pandemic, but the story was nonetheless the same in Ghana. The aviation and lifestyle industries suffered badly, with some institutions being forced to close down due to a steep decline in revenue due to low patronisation levels imposed by the pandemic.
Fast-forward to 2022, the economy of Ghana, which thrives largely on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), is on a steady climb amid rising prices of commodities and consumables due to other extraneous factors.
At the centre of this storm stand banks – the custodians and gatekeepers of the nation’s economic input and output. Apart from financing the fiscal needs of these MSMEs, banks have also transitioned to the digital edge, devising various products and services which aim to provide convenience and ultimately reduce the cost of performing financial transactions with very little emphasis on cash.
Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited, a leader in pioneering various digital financial products and services, has lit a path and redefined digital banking products with the sole aim of revitalising the economy by enabling MSMEs and corporates in their operations and endeavours.
Many products and services have been developed and deployed by the bank, which is targeted at Retail, MSME, Government and Corporate Sectors.
- For the Retail segment, our products have leveraged both the USSD and Mobile app technology frameworks, delivering products that create ease and convenience in payments, accessing loans, paying bills and utilities, buying airtime, paying school fees and payments of statutory taxes.
Some products and platforms for the retail segment are:
- Bank *737#: A mobile USSD banking platform that gives you access to your account and other value-added services by dialing *737#.
- Quick Credit: A digital lending solution developed to give you instant access to cash for your pressing needs.
- Max advance: The product was designed to facilitate personal loans to staff of pre-qualified corporate and government institutions who have salary accounts with the bank.
- Internet banking: A product that gives you unlimited access to your accounts, and allows you conveniently perform over 90 percent of your bank transactions online real-time.
- Myghpay: Myghpay is an integrated and secure online platform and mobile app designed to enable individuals, businesses, associations and institutions to collect or make payments.
- The MSME and Corporates have a different suite of products which first enables them online, and secondly, facilitates bulk payments and collections via various payment modes – cards, mobile money, ATM, GHQR, among others.
Products built for these segments are as follows:
- GAPS: GTBank Automated Payment System (GAPS) facilitates the processing of vendor, supplier or payroll payments in batches or single payments, using secured (https) connections over the Internet.
- GTPAY: GTPay is a secure Internet payment gateway developed to facilitate online card payments.
- GTMT: Guaranty Trust Money Transfer can be used to send money to beneficiaries in Nigeria.
- POS: As a merchant, our Point of Sale (POS) devices can be used to receive payments from customers via cards or mobile money.
- SME Suite: Puts your business on the global stage with a business website which has an integrated payment platform, official email for up to 5 employees, a free corporate card and POS.
- SME Cashflow lending: This is a short-term borrowing facility that provides a quick cash flow solution to your business needs.
