Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) has commended banks and other institutions promoting the patronage of electronic payment systems.

GhIPSS, which is a Bank of Ghana subsidiary, says such efforts will eventually result in a significant reduction in cash payments.

The Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS, Mr Archie Hesse was reacting 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 will bring a lot of convenience to such customers and save them time, cost and the stress of moving to banking halls just to pay in cheques.

Mr. Hesse described the service as exciting and in the right direction, explaining that it will encourage a lot more companies to prefer cheques, as a mode of payment to cash, a development which fits into the goal of migrating Ghana into an electronic payment community and reduce its dependence on cash for transactions.

He noted further that several other banks were also promoting various forms of electronic payment and urged them to continue since the future of banking lies 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, touting it as a very secured and fast way of paying salaries.

He said it was unacceptable in this era, for any workers’ salary to delay because of the banking system, because of the existence of the Direct Credit, which is one of the electronic payment options under the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system.

He therefore, encouraged banks to support the GhIPSS in educating the public about the immense benefits of Direct Credit.

Mr. Hesse noted that whilst 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 mentioned the rollout of the hybrid POSes, which accepts both local ATM and e-zwich cards, and that, customers should be encouraged to rather use their ATM cards to shop instead of withdrawing cash in order to shop.

Mr. Hesse 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 shop will reduce the pressure on ATM outlets, a situation which will inure to the benefit of the banks as well as create convenience for customers.

Banking is increasingly becoming competitive, and it will take the use of technology to bring convenience and enhanced services, if the banks will survive the competition, industry watchers have said.