Mobile money was my idea – Ato Essien

Mobile money was my idea – Ato Essien
admin Court Lead
Spread the love

The founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of failed Capital Plus Bank, William Ato Essien says money transferred on mobile was started by him in 2013.

He said the idea to transfer money on mobile phone was his ‘child’ that was called Cedipe and later changed into speed banking, after it was successful rolled out.

Mr. Essien narrated to an Accra High Court presided over Justice Eric Kyei Baffour today that Cedipe was so successful to the extent that customers began to deposit money on the bank’s scratch card as a means of payment.

“And so my lord, the board and management decided to revise the name from Cedipe to speed banking. My lord, speed banking, is what has come to be known as mono by MTN, Tigo cash, by AirtelTigo cash and Vodafone cash.

“In a recent report by the Bank of Ghana, mobile money has hit a whopping GH¢100 million by way of transaction in just a month. My lord this is the vision that capital Bank stood for. And so on the front of how well we were doing as a bank, there was absolutely no doubt that all that it required was a matter of time and Capital Bank would have become a household name” he laments.

He added that the collapsed bank was also the first bank to puts its entire operations on an app as against other universal banks that started theirs just about three years ago.According to him, the failed bank was making strides because of its internal control mechanisms, compliance and the use oftechnology.

“These three practices were held dearly as a bank and that accounted for why we coined the statement: The 21st Century Bank is not where you go but want you do. Statistically, the average person touches his phone about 1800 times.

“Therefore, the 21st century bank can only define itself and position itself between this touch of the average user. It was only in the last three years that banks thought of putting their operations in an app. My lord, as far back as 2013, capital Bank started to work and put the entire operation into an app and we were just about releasing it until the takeover,” he added.

Mr Ato Essien is standing trial with three others on financial mismanagement.

The case has scheduled to next Thursday.

Categories