Ghanaian bankers have been educated on the uses and the potential usage of the extended national electronic platform, which will complement the existing one and will enable a lot more transactions and switching to be done.
Ghana has had the national payment platform, christened e-zwich, since 2007 but there are new installations underway to enhance its capability, and help the payment landscape and create new businesses within the financial sector.
It is this development that prompted the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS) to invite all the banks and walk them through the project and expose them to the new product offerings they could have in the coming months.
The two-day workshop was attended by the Information Technology, Business Development and the Operations units of the various banks.
With the new switch fully installed, all the automated teller machine (ATMs) will accept any of the existing ATM cards, allowing customers to undertake ATM transactions on any machine they come across.
Additionally all ATM cards will work on all e-zwich Point of Sales (POS ) devices, implying that people will be able to shop with the existing ATM cards that they have, alongside the e-zwich cards.
The electronic platform will also be connected to foreign cards such as Visa and MasterCard, ensuring interoperability. The rollout of these functions will be in phases with some of them taking place by the last quarter of the year.
The General Manager of Project and Business Development, GhIPSS, Archie Hesse, told journalists at the end of the workshop that bank customers will enjoy a lot of flexibilities in accessing their monies lodged with the banks.
He explained that when it also becomes possible for people to use their normal ATM cards to shop directly without having to load cash on the card, it would improve the culture of buying with payment cards, which would in turn encourage shop owners to secure POSes.
He also stated that it will be possible for foreign cards such as Visa and MasterCard to be locally generated to reduce cost and provide business opportunities for the local economy.
Ghana has had the national payment platform, christened e-zwich, since 2007 but there are new installations underway to enhance its capability, and help the payment landscape and create new businesses within the financial sector.
It is this development that prompted the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS) to invite all the banks and walk them through the project and expose them to the new product offerings they could have in the coming months.
The two-day workshop was attended by the Information Technology, Business Development and the Operations units of the various banks.
With the new switch fully installed, all the automated teller machine (ATMs) will accept any of the existing ATM cards, allowing customers to undertake ATM transactions on any machine they come across.
Additionally all ATM cards will work on all e-zwich Point of Sales (POS ) devices, implying that people will be able to shop with the existing ATM cards that they have, alongside the e-zwich cards.
The electronic platform will also be connected to foreign cards such as Visa and MasterCard, ensuring interoperability. The rollout of these functions will be in phases with some of them taking place by the last quarter of the year.
The General Manager of Project and Business Development, GhIPSS, Archie Hesse, told journalists at the end of the workshop that bank customers will enjoy a lot of flexibilities in accessing their monies lodged with the banks.
He explained that when it also becomes possible for people to use their normal ATM cards to shop directly without having to load cash on the card, it would improve the culture of buying with payment cards, which would in turn encourage shop owners to secure POSes.
He also stated that it will be possible for foreign cards such as Visa and MasterCard to be locally generated to reduce cost and provide business opportunities for the local economy.
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