Ghana ready for full cashless payment by January 2022 – GhIPSS

On June 25, 2021, 9:40 AM

The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System, (GhIPSS) has said, it has laid the needed foundation to support the country’s digitisation process, particularly, making Ghana a cashless economy.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse, noted that the needed infrastructure that would make the cash lite financial inclusion practicable even by next year, has been built.

Hesse explained that there are three main platforms in the country that would support the cash lite agenda.

These platforms, which make up the clearing house, consist of the cheque payment, the Hand Chain Hoist (HCH), the batch payment and the HCH direct debit and HCH direct credit.

“As far as we are concerned from the infrastructure point of view, we are ready. If the government wants to go that way, we are ready to support, not just in terms of system availability and reliability, but in terms of the range of payment systems,” he said.

“In Ghana as we speak, when we look at cheque clearing, it’s cleared same day or next day. We also have the HCH direct credit, which is mainly used for bulk salary payment. We also have the express which means that within 4 hours you will be paid and the next day as well,” he added.

These platforms, according to him, ae an indication of the readiness that the country was ready to fully go cash lite, beginning January 2022.

He however said, “[T]he various government bodies will need to ensure that their systems that are connected to ours (GhIPSS) to be made available to their customers.”

Hesse said this in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on the PM Express on Joy FM.

In 2019, the World Bank acknowledged Ghana as the fastest-growing mobile money market in Africa and offered key recommendations to enhance its financial inclusion.

This included digitising government to person (G2P) payments, promoting agent banking for the last mile, linking informal financial channels with formal financial services, improving financial capabilities for consumers, and leveraging data to improve access to finance.

As a result, the Ministry of Finance in May 2020 launched three key policy initiatives to deepen financial inclusion and accelerate digital transformation.

There was the National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy, the Digital Financial Services Policy, and the Cash Lite Roadmap.

These policies are expected to improve Ghana’s digital financial landscape, furthering progress made over the past decade while guiding the creation of a cash lite economy, which has become essential in the era of COVID-19.

The Cash Lite Roadmap, which is in collaboration with the Better Than Cash Alliance, a global partnership of governments, corporations and international organisations, particularly pinpoints concrete steps to building an inclusive digital payment ecosystem.

This includes improving access to financial services, enabling regulation and oversight, and promoting consumer protection.

The roadmap is designed to chart the pathway to a more vibrant and inclusive digital ecosystem that is both pervasive and transformational.

This would then support and complement the electronic transformation initiative by providing Ghanaians with financial tools tailored to suit their needs and propel the country into a model digitised financial hub.

Story By Francis Ntow