Archie Hesse
Transactions handled by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System Ltd (GhIPSS) stood at GH¢97 billion between January and June, this year from GH¢47.3 billion recorded in the first quarter.
This represents growth in the value of about 105 percent.
The volume of transactions, which was 6 million in the first quarter, shot to 12.2 million by June this year.
The value and volume of transactions show consistency in growth in patronage for the various electronic payment initiatives introduced by the national payment infrastructure provider.
GhIPSS provides four broad electronic payment services, which are offered through banks and other financial institutions.
They are the clearing house set of services, e-zwich services, gh-link set of services and the very latest being the GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP).
The total value of the half year transactions also represents a growth of over 19 percent over the same period last year.
The clearing house services, which include the electronic cheque clearing and Automated Clearing House (ACH) Direct Credit and Direct Debit, remain the largest contributor to the value and volume of transactions that pass through GhIPSS.
It is followed by e-zwich transactions, gh-link transactions and GIP in that order.
GhIPSS, which was set up 10 years ago, recorded only 3.8 million Ghana cedis worth of transactions in its first full year in 2008.
However, the volume and value of transactions have grown consistently over the years with the addition of new initiatives and growth in the patronage of the services.
GhIPSS offers indirect services through financial institutions particularly banks.
In an interview, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GhIPSS Archie Hesse, said that Ghana was steadily making progress towards the reduction in cash based transactions.
He explained the volume and value of transactions that pass through GhIPSS give an indication of growth in electronic payment transactions.
He, however, added that a lot more needs to be done to achieve the desired levels of non-cash transactions.
Mr. Hesse noted that moves to link mobile money wallet to bank accounts was important in the financial sector, which will also help reduce cash based transactions.
A business desk report