GhIPSS launches two payment services

Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) on Wednesday launched two major payment services the gh-link e-Commerce and the GhIPSS Instant Pay.

The gh-link e-Commerce would provide the platform for local businesses both in commerce and service industry to receive payments and donations online from domestic Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards.

The GhiPSS instant Pay, on the other hand, would enable people to instantly transfer funds from one bank account to another, even if the accounts belong to different banks, without visiting a banking hall.

The payment option is expected to facilitate transactions, as funds transferred through this medium would be credited to the account of the recipient instantly.

Launching the payment services, Dr Henry Kofi Wampah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), said the launch of the two products would extend the frontiers of cash lite society and urged companies, government agencies and the private sector to take advantage to promote e-commerce.

He said it was a further demonstration of a cashless agenda and the move to modernise the payment system.

He said mobile money networks had an important role to play in promoting a cash lite society in partnership with the banks.

Dr Wampah said it was in that direction that the BoG recently announced regulations to strengthen the operations of mobile money and to ensure the protection of customers.

Mr Simon Dornoo, President of the Ghana Association of Bankers, said the banking landscape is changing and fully backed the move by GhIPSS to make payment faster.

The Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS, Mr Archie Hesse, urged indigenous Information Technology players to position themselves in readiness to seize the opportunities that the gh-link e-Commerce will offer.

“Today, we are confident that by enabling the domestic ATM to be accepted for payment online a major void has been filled. This should serve as an encouragement for potential e-commerce companies to start re-aligning their business strategy for the future,” he said.

Mr Hesse said e-Commerce had the potential to expand the economy by creating jobs in courier, shipping, the IT services industry and expressed the hope that the youth would seize the opportunity and run with it.

He assured the public of continuous effort to ensure the security of all transactions and said they had implemented a cardholder authentication system to ensure protection from fraud and also reduce the incidences of chargeback for online merchants.