Universal POS devices for banks

The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) is expected to complete a project that will enable normal Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, as well as e-zwich cards to work on the same Point of Sale devices (PoS).

The point-of-sale devices would eventually be upgraded to accept other cards such as Visa, MasterCard in the country.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse, who disclosed this, spoke of plans to encourage government agencies to accept payment of levies and taxes via PoS devices.

That, according to him, could significantly lead to an increase in revenue mobilization from the informal sector.

Mr Hesse disclosed this while delivering a speech at the opening of a three-day National Payment Strategy Workshop in Accra on the topic, “Ghana Payments and Infrastructure and operations-The journey so far.”

Currently, there are various payment cards including e-zwich, Visa, MasterCard as well as cards introduced by various oil marketing companies, but patronage is not as high as expected.

Mr. Hesse noted that various initiatives introduced by GhIPSS to enhance the country’s payment system were doing very well.

He said the Gh-link, for instance, was doing extremely well with more micro-finance companies also getting onto the platform.

This platform enables financial institutions to share each other’s ATM outlet.

Mr Hesse stressed the need to obtain a country standard guarding payment cards and ATMs.

That, he said, was crucial so the current practice whereby some banks refuse to accept some cards used on other platforms would be nipped in the bud.

According to him, when a clear standard is determined and complied with, the banks would feel secure using each other’s platform.

The three-day event was put together by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Standard Chartered Bank and GhIPSS.