The various transactions handled by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System Ltd. (GhIPSS) stood at GH¢97 billion between January and June this year from GH¢47.3 billion recorded in the first quarter.

This represents a growth in value of about 105 per cent. The volume of transactions which was 6 million in the first quarter stood at to 12.2 million by June this year.

The value and volume of transactions show consistency in growth in patronage for the various electronic payment initiatives introduced by the national payment infrastructure provider.

GhIPSS provides four broad electronic payment services which are offered through banks and other financial institutions. They are the clearing house set of services, e-zwich services, gh-link set of services and the very latest being the GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP). The total value of the half year transactions also represents a growth of over 19 percent over the same period last year.

The clearing house services which include the electronic cheque clearing and Automated Clearing House (ACH) Direct Credit and Direct Debit remain the largest contributor to the value and volume of transactions that pass through GhIPSS. It is followed by e-zwich transactions, gh-link transactions and GIP in that order.

GhIPSS, which was set up 10 years ago, recorded only GH¢3.8 million worth of transactions in its first full year in 2008.

However, the volume and value of transactions have grown consistently over the years with the addition of new initiatives and growth in the patronage of the services.

GhIPSS as the national payment infrastructure, established by the Bank of Ghana, does not deal directly with the public but offers its services through financial institutions particularly banks.

In an interview, the Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS Archie Hesse said that Ghana was steadily making progress towards the reduction in cash based transactions. He explained the volume and value of transactions that passes through GhIPSS give an indication of growth in electronic payment transactions. He, however, added that a lot more needs to be done to achieve the desired levels of non-cash transactions.

Mr Hesse commended financial institutions for their efforts at driving the cash-lite agenda and added that GhIPSS will continue to work with them and other stakeholders to ensure that the critical mass of electronic payment transactions is attained within the shortest possible time. He noted that moves to link mobile money wallet to bank accounts was an important development within the financial sector, which will also help reduce cash based transactions.