Banks would mitigate fraudulent transactions if they use the Ghana card to verify transactions, Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah has said.

Speaking during the National Identity Day, aimed at raising awareness about the significance of legal identity, aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 16.9, Professor Attafuah said: "We have unbounded all the 25 universal banks and 125 rural banks, all the telcos".

"All these institutions are properly positioned to verify identification, verification is the confirmation that the right thing has been done", he added.

“That is why the banks must verify", Prof Attafuah stressed.

"The banks failed to verify the identities, simply make a photocopy of the person’s ID Card, they lost 162 million through fraud, that wouldn’t have happened if the banks verified", he added.

The NIA is currently doing phase II of registration of new Ghana card applicants.