The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) is working to replace the manual payment of services rendered by public institutions with an electronic payment system.
The move, it said is to allow the general public to pay for such services online.
The General Manager at GHIPSS in charge of project and business development, Mr Achie Hesse, who disclosed this to the daily graphic in Accra, said the electronic payment system was aimed at reducing the various frustrations and costs associated with the manual payment process.
Mr Hesse said the electronic payment system formed part of a series of projects that the GHIPSS intended to deplore this year.
He mentioned a hybrid automated teller machine (ATM) that would accept the ATM cards of all banks in the country, a complimentary switch that allows GHIPSS’s e-zwich point of sale device to accept all other money cards.
Another project for the year is a system to link up the mobile money services of the telecom companies to one system.
Most of these projects, he said, were expected to be piloted in the second quarter of this year and fully become operational in the subsequent quarters.
On the online payment system for the services of government institutions, Mr Hesse said the GHIPSS has since commenced discussions with some of the institutions on the various modalities of the new system which was expected to test-run within the second quarter of this year.
“We want to introduce an internet payment system that will allow clients of public sector institutions online without necessarily having to walk to the institution concerned to do payments,” the GM said.
Such a strategy, according Mr Hesse, was informed by the various difficulties and time constraints associated with cash payments for services rendered to the general public by government institutions.
The GHIPSS, since its establishment, has been fighting to reduce the country’s over reliance on cash transactions and its inherent difficulties to individuals and the economy at large.
On the performance of the GHIPSS e-zwich card, Mr Hesse said patronage of the facility has been encouraging as more corporate institutions and individuals resorted to it for various transactions
“More employers in the informal sector are beginning to realise the importance of the card and their patronage for it has been increasing,” Mr Hesse said adding system where workers salaries were sometimes delayed because of inter-bank payment difficulties, “payment of salaries in the e-zwich is accessible moments after the cash has been paid in.”
Source;Daily Graphic
Date;25/01/2012
