By Dr. Prince Osei HYEAMAN-ADDAI
Banks’ investments in digital and innovative services have scaled up significantly in recent years, and Ghana is no exception. In Ghana, banks’ investments in cutting-edge, new technologies were immediately enhanced following the successes chalked up by mobile money, as realised in 2013, and the subsequent push from Fintech platforms, heralding the overall interoperability ecosystem maintained through regulatory rails.
One would not be wrong to believe that a digital innovation race, underscored by new technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, is ongoing in Ghana’s banking industry. These digital innovative mandates are highly driven by banks’ mobile-first digital strategy, which leverages mobile banking offerings for customer-centric value propositions and improves convenience and efficiency. At the financial services level, the mobile banking channel would typically cover flavours such as Mobile Banking App, and/or Mobile Banking USSD, and/or Mobile Banking Chat via social media platforms, including WhatsApp.
Mobile-first technology investment
Importantly, banks have made substantial investments in a mobile-first digital strategy, propelled by mobile banking products and services that have become a cornerstone of the sector. These technologies enable seamless customer interactions, drive operational cost efficiencies, and unlock new avenues for revenue growth.
Such investments should not be underestimated or allowed to escalate without a structured framework for measuring their impact across key performance dimensions. Given that the banking sector remains a leading pillar of the services economy in Ghana, uncontrolled or poorly yielding digital investments could adversely affect profitability, financial stability, and ultimately the broader national economy.
High mobile connectivity (exceeding 100-110percent of the population due to multiple subscriptions), growing smartphone adoption, strong customer preferences for digital channels, and rising internet penetration (over 70percent) are key drivers behind banks’ prioritisation of developing, enhancing, and deploying mobile banking technologies as the primary platform for customer interactions, services, and innovation (PwC Ghana Banking Survey 2025; KPMG Ghana Digital Trends 2025; DataReportal Digital 2025: Ghana / GSMA Intelligence).
Effective Measurement of KPIs for Mobile Banking
Extracting adequate value from the mobile banking investments made by banks requires deliberate and optimally orchestrated performance indicators, which are tracked and improved with relevant trends and insights drawn from the digital journey.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly accelerated the shift toward digital transactions—evidenced by 2024 mobile banking transaction value at GH¢165 billion and mobile money transaction values reaching GH¢3.6 trillion as at October 2025—Ghanaian banks have intensified efforts to identify and implement optimal Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for evaluating their mobile banking channels (Bank of Ghana, 2024/2025; PwC Ghana Banking Survey, 2025).
These KPIs are essential for quantifying Return on Investment (ROI) and broader financial returns, providing critical insights for shareholders and other stakeholders.
Effective KPIs should comprehensively track key dimensions, including user adoption, engagement, operational efficiency, security, and financial performance. By doing so, they enable institutions to highlight operational strengths, identify bottlenecks (e.g., application crashes or suboptimal retention rates), and guide evidence-based strategic initiatives, including feature enhancements and targeted marketing or incentive programs.
The measurement of these KPIs generally relies on integrated analytics platforms, stores analytics and specialised banking systems, which aggregate data from mobile applications, transaction records, and customer feedback mechanisms. Some of the analytic platforms can also be built in-house, leveraging internal capabilities and relevant data sources, which can be comparable to industry for the right insights.
While benchmarks differ by region and institution scale, global and emerging market averages as of 2025 typically feature monthly active user (MAU) retention rates in the range of 40-60percent for high-performing applications, alongside crash rates maintained below 1percent (GSMA State of the Industry Report 2025). The competition from Fintechs, mobile money providers and payment service aggregators demands that banks stay highly competitive and meaningful to their customers in this ever-dynamic and growing digital market.
Essential KPIs for banks’ mobile banking channel in 2026
Below is a curated list of essential and relevant KPIs for mobile banking, drawn from industry best practices and professional insights for banks. The table includes the KPI label, brief description, measurement formula, and growth benchmarks for 2026.
| KPI | Description | Measurement Formula | Growth Benchmark for 2026 |
| Monthly Active Users (MAU) | Tracks unique users engaging with the channel monthly.
[indicating overall adoption] |
Unique users logging in or transacting in 30 days, i.e. 30-Day Active Users | 40percent-70percent of total customer base; aim for 10percent-20percent YoY growth. |
| Daily Active Users (DAU)/MAU Ratio | Measures daily engagement relative to monthly users.
[showing stickiness and engaged users] |
(DAU / MAU) × 100 | 20percent-30percent for banking apps (higher than e-commerce’s 10-15percent). |
| Retention Rate | Percentage of users returning after initial use.
[reflecting loyalty] |
(users at end of period – new users) / users at start of period × 100 | Day 1: 40percent-50percent.
Day 30: 25percent-35percent |
| Churn Rate | Users are abandoning the channel, often due to poor user experience or competition. | (Lost users / Total users at start) × 100 | Under 10percent monthly; target reduction via personalised notifications and other engagement channels |
| Transaction Volume | Number of mobile-initiated transactions (e.g., transfers, utilities/bill payments). | Total transaction counts via the mobile channel in a period.
NB: KPIs can be set up for both Financial and Non-Financial Transactions |
30percent-50percent of all bank transactions; growth of 15percent-25percent YoY. |
| Average Transaction Value (ATV) | Monetary value per mobile transaction, linking to revenue potential. | Total transaction value / Total transactions. | GH¢150-400, depending on bank; higher for premium/high-ticket features. |
| App Load Time | Time to load key screens impacting user satisfaction and abandonment. | Average time from request to render (track via app telemetry) | Under 2 seconds; >3 seconds could increase drop-off by 30percent over time. |
| Crash Rate | Frequency of app crashes [affecting trust and usability] | (Crashes / Sessions) × 100 | <1percent of sessions; monitor via tools like Crashlytics. |
| Net Promoter Score (NPS) | Customer loyalty gauge based on the likelihood of recommending the channel. | (percent Promoters – percent Detractors) from post-use surveys. | 60+ for leading banks; correlate with feature feedback. |
| Fraud Detection Rate | Effectiveness of security features in preventing mobile fraud. | (Detected fraud attempts / Total attempts) × 100. | 95percent+ detection; under 0.1percent successful incidents. |
| Income Impact | Revenue or fees earned from user activities on the channel. | Fee earned from each revenue-generating transaction, e.g. airtime/data, bill payments, transfers, etc.
FTP earned from throughputs/deposits can also be considered. |
GH¢5M-7M per month; can be treated weekly and daily as well |
| Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) | Quantifies the average amount of revenue generated from each active user of the mobile platform over a specific period (e.g., monthly, quarterly, or annually).
It helps assess monetisation effectiveness, evaluate ROI on digital investments, guide pricing strategies, and identify opportunities for upselling or cross-selling features like loans, investments, or premium services.
|
Total Revenue Attributable to Mobile Banking / Number of Active Mobile Users | GH¢150-320 per user per month.
Monitor YoY/MoM changes and correlate with features |
| Cost-Saving Rate
(or Digital Cost Savings Ratio or Channel Migration Cost Efficiency) |
measures the percentage reduction in operational costs achieved by shifting customer transactions and interactions from high-cost channels (e.g., branches, call centres, ATMs) to lower-cost digital/mobile channels | [(Cost of Traditional Channel Transactions − Cost of Equivalent Mobile/Digital Transactions) / Cost of Traditional Channel Transactions] × 100
Or (Total Cost Savings from Mobile Migration / Total Baseline Operational Costs) × 100 Total Cost Savings = (Number of transactions migrated to mobile) × (Average cost per traditional transaction − Average cost per mobile transaction) |
Leading digital banks achieve 40-70percent overall cost reduction through channel migration.
Identify how AI could be used to further reduce/optimise costs. |
| Cost-To-Serve (CTS) | The total cost incurred by a bank to deliver services to a single customer (or segment) through the mobile channel over a specific period.
It encompasses direct costs (e.g., app maintenance, transaction processing) and allocated indirect costs (e.g., IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, marketing attribution).
|
1. Per Customer (most common for customer-centric analysis):
CTS = Total Costs Attributable to Mobile Banking / Number of Active Mobile Users 2. Per Transaction (granular for efficiency tracking): CTS per Transaction = Total Mobile Channel Costs / Total Mobile Transactions 3. Normalised per Revenue (for profitability linkage): CTS per $1,000 Revenue = (Allocated Mobile Costs / Total Retail Banking Revenue) × 1,000 |
$0.08–0.20
Highly automated; significantly lower in emerging markets due to scale. Globally, digital migration yields 40-60percent overall cost reductions. |
Source: Authors’ fieldwork, McKinsey Global Banking Reports (2023-2025), PWC Reports (2023-2025), Deloitte, GSMA Reports (2023-2025), Bank of Ghana and Forrester Reports.
Implementing the KPIs measurement in 2026 and beyond
I would recommend a structured, multi-phased approach to KPI implementation.
This framework draws on global best practices adapted to Ghana’s regulatory environment, including compliance with the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843), and aligns with emerging trends in Generative AI (GenAI) and analytics highlighted in recent industry surveys. Below outlines the key phases: data collection, analysis, benchmarking and improvement, and a holistic integration with broader metrics.
- Data collection – Establishing a robust, privacy-compliant foundation
The cornerstone of any KPI measurement strategy is high-fidelity, real-time data capture. Banks should integrate advanced Software Development Kits (SDKs) and analytics platforms into their mobile applications to monitor user interactions, transaction flows, and behavioral patterns without compromising data integrity or user privacy. Recommended tools include Amplitude for in-depth engagement tracking and funnel analysis, Dynatrace for performance monitoring and anomaly detection, Mixpanel for event-based analytics, and Firebase (from Google) for crash reporting and user segmentation. These integrations enable granular data collection on metrics such as session duration, feature adoption rates, and drop-off points in user journeys.
Critically, all data handling must adhere to Ghana’s Data Protection Act, 2012, enforced by the Data Protection Commission (DPC). This includes obtaining explicit user consent for data processing, implementing anonymisation techniques (e.g., pseudonymization of personal identifiers), conducting regular Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), and ensuring end-to-end encryption for sensitive information. For instance, banks can leverage opt-in mechanisms during app onboarding and use differential privacy algorithms to aggregate data while mitigating re-identification risks. Compliance avoids penalties, builds customer trust and prepares the grounds for AI personalisations. Additionally, integrate with banking-specific platforms for seamless fusion of app data with core transaction logs and customer feedback surveys (e.g., via Net Promoter Score tools). This ensures a comprehensive dataset, capturing real-time insights while aligning with international standards such as ISO 27001 for information security.
- Analysis – Leveraging actionable insights for operational optimisation
Once data is collected, sophisticated analysis transforms raw metrics into strategic intelligence. Deploy interactive dashboards—such as those powered by Tableau, Power BI, or Amplitude’s built-in visualisations—to segment KPIs across key dimensions, including user demographics (e.g., age, income brackets, region, etc), device types (Android vs. iOS, etc) and feature-specific adoption (e.g., adoption of transfers, bill payments, or pensions/investment, etc). This segmentation reveals nuanced patterns, such as higher churn among millennial users in rural areas due to connectivity issues, enabling targeted interventions such as alerts.
Furthermore, incorporate predictive analytics via GenAI models to forecast trends, such as potential retention drops based on engagement dips, thereby shifting from reactive to anticipatory decision-making.
- Benchmarking and improvement – Driving continuous enhancement through comparative insights
Benchmarking against industry peers provides an objective lens for performance evaluation and iterative improvement. Leverage authoritative reports such as the PwC Ghana Banking Survey, which details digital transformation benchmarks, the KPMG Ghana Digital Trends, and Deloitte Industry Insight Reports, which highlight mobile app usage patterns and efficiency metrics. For instance, low retention might signal user interface or experience issues—address with A/B testing.
- Holistic view – Integrating mobile KPIs with enterprise-wide metrics for comprehensive ROI assessment
For a complete perspective, mobile banking KPIs must be synthesised with broader organisational metrics to evaluate overall Return on Investment (ROI). Key integrations include Cost per Acquisition (CPA) and Return on Digital Investment (RODI). In Ghana’s context, where mobile money has enhanced banking performance through transaction volumes, this holistic approach reveals synergies, such as how high mobile engagement reduces branch costs by 30-50percent.
Utilise enterprise dashboards (e.g., via custom BI tools, etc) to correlate mobile metrics with financial outcomes, ensuring alignment with national priorities. This integrated view not only quantifies ROI but also supports scenario planning, such as forecasting the impact of GenAI-driven features on revenue per user.
By regularly tracking these KPIs, banks can optimise mobile experiences, reduce operational costs (e.g., shifting 70percent of branches to digital), and boost competitiveness in a fintech-driven landscape. Future articles would seek to analyse important mobile-banking-related Financial and Non-Financial Transactions to measure on the mobile banking channel to extract critical returns.
Conclusion
In an era of rapid digital transformation, particularly in mobile-first markets like Ghana, substantial investments in mobile banking technologies demand rigorous measurement through targeted KPIs (e.g., MAU retention, ARPU, Cost-Saving Rate, Cost-to-Serve, transaction volume, and engagement metrics).
These KPIs are essential to:
- Quantify ROI and financial returns, ensuring hefty digital expenditures translate into revenue growth, cost efficiencies (often 40-70percent savings), and shareholder value.
- Drive operational excellence by identifying strengths, addressing bottlenecks (e.g., low retention or high crash rates), and informing data-backed decisions on features, security, and personalisation.
- Sustain competitiveness and inclusion, amid fierce Fintech competition and high transaction volumes, while supporting broader economic stability in banking-led services sectors.
Without structured KPI measurement, investments risk becoming uncontrolled costs with suboptimal outcomes. Proactive tracking enables banks to optimise performance, enhance customer experiences, and secure long-term profitability in a digital-dominated landscape.
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