According to the bank, the customer centric electronic banking product would allow customers to  perform selected banking transactions anytime, anywhere and at their own convenience using the mobile phone.

At the launch of the product in Accra on Tuesday, the Deputy Managing Director in charge of Banking Operations Prudential Bank, Mrs Mary Brown, noted that with ‘mobiWise’ her outfit was offering customers the ease and convenience of banking on their phone as well as accessibility and availability to all the banking transactions usually done through the traditional banking channels.

She stated that the mobile banking service facilitated the linking of one’s traditional bank account to a mobile money wallet of the selected telecommunication company.

This direct integration, she said allowed the movement of funds between two; account-to-wallet and vice versa.

Throwing more light on the reasons for the introduction of their latest banking product, Mrs Brown mentioned the growing importance of mobile money in the country which naturally stemmed from the fact that over the last decade, the mobile-phone penetration rate had grown in leaps and bounds.

At the end of June 2016, there were about 26.4 million mobile voice subscribers according to the June,2016 Telecom Subscriptions report by the National Communication Authority (NCA), giving a total penetration rate of 131.89 per cent.

“This kind of penetration improves the accessibility and availability of mobile money solutions to the general population.

Between 2012 and 2015, registered mobile money subscribers increased from 3.8 million to 15.1 million and registered mobile money agents increased from 8,660 to 93,376. Transaction also jumped from 18 million to 266 million, while the value of transactions ballooned from GH¢596 million to over GH¢35 billion.

“Prudential Bank would continue to work hard to uphold their customer focused values by embracing and leveraging new technologies to meet the changing needs and demands of its valued customers across the country,” Mrs Brown added.

Explaining the key features of the new product, the Head of e-banking at Prudential Bank, Mr Frank Afari Ankamah, said the product linked one’s registered mobile money wallet (MTN, Airtel and Tigo) to the traditional account with Prudential Bank, which allows the customer to transfer funds from the  mobile money wallet to any account within Prudential Bank (wallet-to-account), transfer money from the  Prudential Bank account to any registered mobile money wallet on MTN, Airtel and Tigo (account-to-wallet) top-up airtime.

“Also one can transfer money from the account to another account within Prudential Bank (account-to-account), top up airtime on any network and also for friends or family from your Prudential Bank account and instant value for airtime purchased,” he said.

 The Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Mrs Akosua A. Boahen, said the bank would continue to uphold its customer focused values by embracing and leveraging new technologies to meet the changing needs of customers.

She said plans were in place to introduce more exciting products for customers.