Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) has commended banks and other financial institutions for their effort in promoting the use of electronic payment systems.

GhIPSS, which is a Bank of Ghana subsidiary, said such efforts would result in a significant reduction in cash payments.

The Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS, Mr Archie Hesse was responding to the introduction of the Remote Cheque Capturing service by Guaranty Trust Bank (GT Bank). The service enables corporate customers, in particular, who handle lots of cheques, to be able to scan the cheques for processing, from the comfort of their offices, without going to the banking halls.

This service brings a lot of convenience to customers and save them time, cost and stress of moving to banking halls just to pay in cheques. Mr. Hesse described the service as exciting and said it would encourage many companies to prefer cheques as a mode of payment to cash.

He said the development fit into the goal of migrating Ghana into an electronic payment community and reduce dependence on cash for transactions. He urged banks to continue their promotion of the various electronic payment forms, emphasizing that the future of banking lay in electronic payment.

The CEO of GhIPSS also used the opportunity to encourage banks to educate their corporate customers on the use of Direct Credit to pay salaries as it is a very secured and fast way of paying salaries.

Direct Credit is one of the electronic payment options under the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system. Mr Hesse said while the banks and allied institutions were doing well in promoting electronic payment products for corporate customers, it was equally necessary to drive their retail or individual customers to also use their ATM cards to shop on Point of Sales (POS) terminals.

He said with the rollout of the hybrid POSes which accepts both local ATM and e-zwich cards, customers should be encouraged to rather use their ATM cards for transactions instead of withdrawing cash in order to shop. Mr Hesse, therefore, urged banks to also promote the use of cards to shop as that has become possible in Ghana now.

He said the use of ATM cards to pay for transactions at the shop would reduce the pressure on ATM outlets, a situation which would inure to the benefit of the banks as well as create convenience for customers.