CEO of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems, Archie Hesse
Mr. Hesse’s comments follow the passage of the Payment Systems and Services Act by Parliament and the subsequent assent of same by the President into law.
“We should have an active payment council that will be deliberating on these things. They will look after the charges, the promotion, standards, and there are so many things that the Payments Council must be doing. My point is that it should start biting other than that it puts more stress on you and I,” he said.
Mr. Hesse was speaking as a panelist at an event titled: National Agenda For E-payment & Financial Inclusion: The Role of the Stakeholders, as part of Ghana’s Most Respected CEOs Breakfast Series organised by B&FT and sponsored by Vodafone Business, eTranzact, Honda, Dalex and PwC.
The new law consolidates laws and guidelines as it pertains to electronic money operations, payments systems and regulation of various organisations who provide payment services.
The expanded scope of the law now makes adequate provisions for emerging payment streams such as electronic money, prepaid cards, credit cards, electronic platforms and payment instruments.
The passage of the law has also now made it possible for GhIPSS to launch a proxy pay, which is intended to ensure that bank accounts are connected to phone numbers in a bid to enhance electronic payment, by July.
“We are thinking of creating more convenience for individuals to be happy or more comfortable using telephone numbers so what we are going to do is ask everyone to link their bank account to their mobile number. So if I want to pay you now I don’t know your bank account number but I can use your mobile number to effect payment and that is what we intend to do, we call it the proxy pay,” Mr. Hesse said.
He also added that increased awareness on the quicker forms of payment would encourage the unbanked to open accounts with banks. The move also involves a collaboration between the telecommunication companies and the banks.
According to GhIPSS’ first quarter Industry Performance patronage for Instant Pay, and express Direct Credit, the two electronic payment channels that enable the banking public to have quicker use of their funds, indicate that it is on the rise.
Instant Pay (GIP) recorded a growth in volume of about 423.9 percent from 24,227 in the first quarter of 2018 to 126,925 transactions.
Express Direct Credit also recorded a growth of 16.5 percent from 162,774 for the first quarter of 2018 to 189,587 transactions for the same period this year.
The 16.5 percent growth is significantly higher than the 4.2 percent growth that regular Direct Credit recorded over the same period.
