Adopt ISO 20022 Payment System for easy transactions - Government told

Ghana has been urged to ratify the IS0 20022 local and international payment system, which is being rolled out before 2025.

This, according to industry watchers, will keep the country in line with accessing international financial transactions in large volumes, as well as between financial transactions.

The ISO 20022 migration, which aims to modernize high-value payment infrastructure, is already being implemented in countries such as India, Switzerland, and China and has also been introduced in payment markets in Australia, the US, Canada, among others.

It is an emerging global standard for sending payment instructions between local, regional and international financial institutions.

Speaking at a breakfast event on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, to make a case for the rollout, the consultant for Finance Application Systems Limited (FASYL), Emeka Horatio Chinuzar, reiterated the need for Ghana to adopt the ISO 20022, which allows members of financial communities to define and expand message sets according to an internationally agreed business syntax.

“In Africa, major countries like Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya and many other countries have already adopted ISO 20022.

“The US, UK and the Eurozone plan to migrate to ISO 20022 and modernize their HVPSs,” he stated.

With its solutions for helping businesses and companies achieve the adoption, Chibuzar said their system is well designed and thoroughly tested with all the components meeting available standards, which has data backup and failover for meeting the goals of banks.

In a welcome address, the Country Manager for FASYL Ghana, Marian Kwakye, indicated that her company is committed to value creation in the various establishments and that the breakfast meeting is also a testament to their continuous technological innovations and pursuit of international standards within the financial sector.

“Today’s ISO 20022 ROLLOUT gathering, is not just a marked date on our calendars, it is also a milestone in our journey towards empowering businesses to maintain the highest quality standards of your products and services to your customers,“ she stressed.

According to her, however, ISO standards are globally recognized benchmarks that set the stage for quality, efficiency and innovative payment systems, which she encouraged many businesses to join within the regulatory framework.

MA/AE