Archie Hesse
The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), a fully owned subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), is to begin interoperating all mobile money companies by November, this year, Archie Hesse, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has said.
By the foregoing, mobile money users from any of the four mobile money services could send and receive money across networks.
Mr Hesse, who was speaking to journalists in Accra recently, said the movement of funds freely from e-Zwich, traditional bank account and mobile money wallets was going to be the financial inclusion triangle that GhIPSS would use to attract the unbanked population into the banking sector and to ensure that transactions were also done electronically.
GhIPSS, incorporated in May 2007, is celebrating its 10th Anniversary on the theme: ‘10 Years of Promoting Electronic Payments in Ghana.’
Some activities planned are a public lecture on the Evolution of Payment Systems in Ghana, and a commemoration of the anniversary. The Vice President is expected to deliver a keynote address on the selected theme.
Mr Hesse appealed to government to re-engineer and utilise the payment systems that had been created, adding that there was also the need to engage the commercial banks, savings and loans companies, and also rural banks to ensure that they do not only offer a limited number of services available, but full bouquet of the products and services.
He said GhIPSS had been able to implement a number of interventions to bring convenience to users of financial products and to also promote financial inclusion for the majority of unbanked population.
GhIPSS products currently on the market include e-Zwich, cheque clearing system, which reduced the cheque clearing cycle from three to 10 days to same-day or next day, Direct Credit and Direct Debit system that is helping companies sort out bulk and repetitive payments.
GhIPSS has also implemented and currently manages e-zwich, Cheque Codeline Clearing (CCC) System, Automated Clearing House (ACH) Systems and National Switching and Processing System – gh-link.
By Samuel Boadi