Officials of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) will be in the Ashanti Regional capital Kumasi next week, on a public campaign to educate on the use of their bank cards for purchasing purposes.

This is in fulfilment of its mandate to migrate Ghana into an electronic payment community. The GhIPSS officials will first interact with merchants in Kumasi and there after embark on public education on some selected principal streets.

GhIPSS has been deploying Point of Sales (POS) devices in shops, supermarkets, hotels, pharmacies and other shopping outlets throughout the regional capitals including Kumasi.

The activity in Kumasi is therefore expected to drive the public to use their cards whenever they patronise shops with POSes.

Gradually the public is beginning to embrace some electronic payment options such as Direct Credit of the Automated Clearing House, internet banking, mobile banking, e-zwich and payment with domestic as well as international cards.

The increased use of these options suggest that cash transactions are reducing. However an overwhelming transactions continue to take place by means of cash, compelling GhIPSS and its partners to intensify efforts to encourage patronage of electronic payment systems.

Mr Archie Hesse, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS was confident that with persistent campaign and public education on the benefits of electronic payments, Ghana will eventually move away from the heavy dependence on cash.

He said Kumasi was very important in the scheme of affairs, because of the volume of commercial activity.

He urged banks to work closely with their customers who own shops to ensure they acquired and use POSes, while they also helped to encourage individual customers to pay with their debit cards.

Banks would be part of the GhIPSS programme in Kumasi to enroll and issue cards at the event.