BoG report: Non cash payment shot up in 2018

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has said that all the major noncash payment streams recorded an upward trend in 2018 apart from the Ghana Interbank Settlements (GIS) and Cheque Codeline Clearing (CCC) which recorded a decline in value and volume of transactions respectively.

The central bank said the number of E-Zwich cardholders of 2,774,799 as at end of December 2018 showed an increase of 17.4 percent over the 2017 position.

This revelation was contained in the Payment Systems Oversight Annual Report, 2018 compiled by the Payment Systems Department Bank of Ghana.

The report said: “All the major non-cash payment streams in 2018 showed significant increases in both volume and value of transactions with the exception of Ghana Interbank Settlements (GIS) and Cheque Codeline Clearing (CCC) which recorded a decline in value and volume of transactions respectively."

“The number of E-Zwich cardholders of 2,774,799 as at end December 2018 showed an increase of 17.4 percent over the 2017 position. Gh-Link (the National Switch) transactions declined both in volumes and values during the year.”

It added: “GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP), a service which permits payments to be sent across financial institutions electronically from a customer’s bank account to a beneficiary bank account however increased in both volume and value."

“The number of mobile money accounts increased by 35.9 percent to 32,554,346 at end of December 2018."

“Total volume and value of mobile money transactions and total float balances (equivalent cash of the electronic money held by bank) increased during the year.”