2017’s GITTA “Digital Bank of the Year” award winner, Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited has concluded the full integration of Ria Money Transfer’s Direct to Bank Account service, which allows senders to have funds directly credited to beneficiaries of GTBank accounts in as little as 15 minutes.

The service also allows the rapid transfer of funds to any other commercial bank account in Ghana, with senders able to have funds credited to their own bank accounts from abroad.

The newly introduced Direct-to-Bank Account service is a seamless, end-to-end process, with no human involvement in the receipt of remittance. GTBank completed the full integration of service, utilizing the flagship InstantPay service through the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS).

GhIPSS is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana, with a mandate to implement and manage interoperable payment system infrastructures for banks and non-bank financial institutions in Ghana.

Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited, Mr. Lekan Sanusi, commenting on this development said that the integration of the Direct to Bank Account service for Ria Money Transfer was a step taken to encourage a cash-lite society:

“As the Digital Bank of the Year and Technology Advanced Bank of the Year, our core objective is to help drive a cash-lite society where people depend less on cash and rather use electronic and digital channels for their transactions.

This new development with Ria Money Transfer will offer customers and the general public convenience in the sense that they need not visit the bank to access their remittances; they will receive it in their accounts irrespective of their location in less than fifteen minutes.”

Mr. Sanusi further explained the objective behind the full integration of the Direct to Bank Account service. “We aim to go beyond service to our customers, to cater to the needs of non-customers and even the unbanked.

GTBank is the platform for all Ghanaians and so we keep introducing products that will offer everyone the convenience they need to carry out transactions. This new addition with Ria is a showcase of our strength in digitalization and it also reinforces our position as the Digital Bank of the Year.”

Divisional Head of Technology and Transaction Bank, GTBank, Mr. Leopold Armah commented: “There is no human interaction in this newly integrated system; it is seamless and saves a lot of time for all. We are exploring new ways of receiving remittances apart from over the counter, and the Direct to Bank Account service is the first phase.

We are currently working to facilitate Mobile Wallet payments which will enable people to receive remittances directly onto their Mobile Money wallets. We are indeed working to change business of remittance in Ghana.”

Operations Director of Ria Africa, Mr. Robert Kotei also stated that, “As a global remittance leader, Ria has offered the Direct to Bank Account service in Ghana for years. Previously, deposits into beneficiaries’ accounts involved a manual process which could take up to 24 hours.

In our continuous search for a faster and more convenient way for our customers to receive funds, we looked for a partner in Ghana with a level of technology that when leveraged and combined with Ria’s, would result in faster payments.

“Our partnership with GTBank has eliminated human intervention in the last mile of the transfer process and has resulted in a service which takes 15-minutes from the minute money is sent, to the time it’s received in the beneficiary’s bank account.

With this partnership, we are proud to raise the standard of remittance services to Ghana and contribute by giving our beneficiaries faster access to these funds” Kotei concluded.

The GTBank brand is regarded by industry watchers as one of the strongest, safest and best run financial institutions across its subsidiary countries, and serves as a role model within the financial service industry due to its bias for world class corporate governance standards, excellent service delivery, and innovation.

Recently, the bank was for the fourth year running, awarded the “Technology Advanced Bank of the Year” at the Ghana Information Technology and Telecoms Awards, thereby cementing its undisputed lead in the use of technology to make banking easy and convenient for its customers and the general public.

It was also named the “Digital Bank of the Year” and “Best Bank in Mobile Financial Service” in recognition of the various platforms and channels deployed to enhance banking on the go.

These awards cemented an earlier international recognition of GTBank’s superiority in e-banking when the U.K. based Capital Finance International (CFI) awarded it the “Best Digital Bank – Ghana 2017” award in March this year