The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS) says it is in the process of acquiring more Point of Sales devices (Pos) to further promote and encourage the use of the e-zwich card for transactions.

The move is to help reduce the use of fiscal cash for purchases and push the agenda of making the Ghanaian economy a ‘cash-lite’ one.

Speaking with a cross section of the media in Accra, Mr Archie Hesse, the Chief Executive Officer, GhIPSS, said the inadequate number of Pos partly account for the low usage of e- zwich cards to pay for goods and services.

Last year, the total value of transactions recorded on the e-zwich platform reached GHC 922.3 million, a more than 238 percent jump on the 2014 transaction value of GHC 272.7 million.

Mr Hesse attributed the increase partly to the use of the e-zwich for the payments of allowances for National Service Personnel, beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) and the payment of caterers under the National School Feeding Programme.

Mr Hesse said discussions were far advanced with some remittance companies to allow direct transfer of remittance onto individual beneficiary e-zwich cards.

“When this is done you can directly receive remittances onto your e-zwich card. This will do away with the usual bottlenecks associated with receiving remittances from abroad,” he said.

He said his outfit would this year focus on the adoption of the numerous payment platforms it had rolled out.

To further encourage the use of the e-zwich cards, he said GhIPSS would engage with the government to ensure that beneficiaries of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), as well as the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), are paid via the e-zwich platform.

GhIPSS is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana incorporated in May 2007 with a mandate to implement and manage interoperable payment system infrastructures for banks and non bank financial institutions in Ghana.

In line with its mandate, GhIPSS has implemented and currently manages the National Switch and Biometric Smart Card Payment System, e-zwich and the Cheque Codeline Clearing (CCC) and Automated Clearing House (GACH) systems.