Use electronic payment channels to prevent robbery attacks-GhIPSS Boss
The Chief Executive of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS), a subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Archie Hesse has urged the public to use electronic payment channels to send and receive money. He said this was crucial following the frequent reports of robbery attacks.
The past week has recorded a number of daylight robbery attacks in which unspecified amounts of money were reported stolen from the victims. The victims are suspected to have been traced from banks and attacked midway.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Hesse explained that such robbery attacks could be easily avoided if people sent or received monies electronically.
Mr Hesse stated that several electronic payment services exist and regardless of the amount of money that people need to send or receive, there were various options that could be explored to make such payments without carrying physical cash.
"A major reason for introducing these electronic payment platforms is to avoid moving about with cash, so there is absolutely no excuse now to carry cash when you can send or receive that amount electronically."
GhIPSS, through financial institutions, FinTechs and telcos, has introduced many services to make and receive payments, including the transfers of funds across bank accounts within minutes such as the ACH Near Real-Time transfers and instant transfers via GhIPSS Instant Pay. It is also possible to transfer funds from bank account to mobile money wallets and vice versa, while payments can be made directly from bank accounts or mobile money wallets using cards, or GhQR.
Mr Hesse urged the public to use any of these services which were efficient, convenient and safe.
"If you can walk to the banking hall to withdraw huge sums of money, then it means you have a bank account from which you can transfer that amount, so why expose yourself to avoidable risks?"
Mr Hesse encouraged banks to educate their customer about the avoidable risk of carrying huge sums of money when those amounts can be transferred to single or multiple recipients.
Mr Hesse warned that robbery cases may increase from now to the festive season and urged the public to use the various electronic channels. The GhIPSS Boss said public education would be intensified to sensitize the public to embrace electronic payment as a way of life, adding that cash was no longer king as electronic payment is now the best option.
He said while the security agencies make the efforts to rid the streets of criminals, the public could complement the efforts by completely staying away from moving with huge sums of money unless there was police protection.
The GhIPSS 2021 half year performance report has shown that the GhQR and other new electronic services have started making gains. These electronic channels, including GhQR, ACH Direct Credit Near Real Time, GIP Debit pull, and Proxy Pay introduced by Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) cumulatively recorded 358,000 transactions in the first half of the year, representing 0.51 percent of total transactions processed by GhIPSS.