Increasing mobile banking use among rural populations in Ghana

Mobile money services have accelerated progress in global financial inclusion. However, a majority of mobile money customers perceive it just as a money transfer instrument and do not make use of features such as storing money for future needs – which could particularly be useful for remote, rural populations. Integrating banking access into mobile money services – mobile banking combines the perceived safety and security of a bank account with the deep reach into rural villages through mobile money services. In this proposed pilot study, we aim to test ways of informing rural women in Ghana about the capabilities of recently introduced mobile banking services and examine the impact of different information channels on knowledge, take-up, and usage of mobile banking. The findings of this pilot will be utilized to design a future, large scale RCT examining the impact of mobile banking services on household economics and welfare outcomes.