The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Inter-bank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) Archie Hesse has vowed to champion the establishment of the Ghana Payment Council (GPC).
The payment council when established will serve as the body which will ensure stakeholder involvement on decisions and consensus on the direction and details of policies within the payment industry.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Cmir91WvAULYIQ20QErHiVriihs9jtYQ”]Speaking to Citi Business News after a round table collaboration between Citi FM and his outfit which forms part of this year’s Citi Business Festival, the Chief Executive Officer of GHIPSS Archie Hesse promised to see to the establishment of the payment council by the close of the year.
“The payment council we know is long overdue, is a point we have taken on-board and we will address it. The council offers the stake holders engagements, and we GHIPSS have the infrastructure in place, so putting up the council and its being operational and knowing how we will move forward shouldn’t be a difficult task. We will ensure that the council is established”
He argues the Ghana Payment Council will move the country from a cash based economy to a cash-lite economy.
“Will engage the central bank and together we will make sure that the council is established. Am sure in our discussions I should be able to come back to you soon. That will be by the close of the year,” Archie Hesse stated.
All this came to light during the first of two collaborations as part of the Citi Business Festival round table discussion on achieving a cash-lite economy; the future of payments in the country.
Even though Ghana has the baseline infrastructure switches coupled with a massive mobile phone penetration for achieving a cash-lite economy, the country is said to be a highly cash dependent society.
Many stakeholders and players in the industry believe that until a formal leadership and institutional collaboration is established, adding to effective infrastructure, a cash-lite economy is impossible.
Meanwhile Eli Hini the General Manager, Mobile Financial Service, at MTN Ghana called for the full participation of the regulator who is responsible for policy formulation to achieve the cash light economy.
“These conversations and platform is to enable people to be educated and once you create a lot more awareness then you also improve participation which will expand the eco-system and as we develop the conversations we also need to bring in the policy makers because we can have all the conversations if nothing happens, if nothing gets implemented, we do not get value for all the rich ideas that we put together.”
It was clear after the round table discussion that the Bank of Ghana must set up a Payments Council to successfully steer the country away from its heavy use of cash for transactions and embrace a cash lite system, where mobile money, use of cards and points of sales terminals backed by the internet will become the dominant forms of payment.
The issue of Ghana establishing a payment council came up in 2014 as Standard Chartered Bank presented a report on Strategic Payments Road map for Ghana, developed, based on views of people who participated in a stakeholder’s engagement which suggested that the country needed a payment council to achieve a cash-lite society.
The report stated that the Council should be chaired by the Central Bank Governor and other members including the Chief executives of banks, payment arms of Telecos, GhIPSS, and other relevant financial institutions which was to quickly move Ghana into cash lite system in line with global trends and to reduce the huge unbanked population among others.
Citi Business News understands the country passed a law in 2003 which is the Ghana Payment System Act, 2003, it empowers Bank of Ghana to establish, operate and promote any course that will enable the payment system in the country to thrive.
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By: Norvan Acquah – Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana