Accra, March 30, GNA - Mr Kofi Osei Ameyaw, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, on Thursday urged the banking sector to invest in modern Information Communication Technology (ICT) systems to facilitate transactions and customer service.

He said that was necessary to ensure that the much talked about need to employ ICT to facilitate the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the middle-income level goal by 2015 became a reality.

The Deputy Minister made the call when he launched Hysen Data System (HDS) Limited, a subsidiary of the Hysen International Limited, which was introducing new ICT solutions and equipment to improve the banking and retail industry in Ghana.

Mr Ameyaw noted that the services HDS proposed to bring to the Ghanaian banking industry were very vital to the security of the sector, saying that it was safer to have cash on automated teller machine (ATM) cards than to hold physical cash and remain vulnerable to robbery. He appealed to the Management of HDS to develop friendly ATM systems for the rural folk, who formed the majority of the Ghanaian public and were often marginalized in the provision of such automated services.

HDS is the sole representative of German-based Wincor Nixdorf, ranked number one in Germany and number three in the world in the provision of IT solutions to retailers and retail banking.

Present in 90 countries around the world with a staff strength of 7,000, Wincor Nixdorf's products and services, which would be available to the Ghanaian banking sector through HDS, embraced the entire range of automation and self-services systems in both software and hardware. Presenting an overview of the products and the service HDS was to provide, Ms Isabel Nitz, Wincor Nixdorf's Regional Director for Africa, noted that the Company was poised to introduce tropicalized cash dispensers, cash and cheque deposit machines, statements printers and online transaction services under the self-service range as well as passbook printers at the teller areas.

Miss Nitz said the newly designed Wincor Nixdorf range of ATM machines were an improved version, which dispensed a maximum of 60 notes per transaction and also prevented any mistakes in counting the cash. Mr John Dzandu, Sales Manager of HDS, told the Ghana News Agency that the Company had since January 2006 been providing full range services to at least six locally operating banks, including Stanbic, Stanchart, Fidelity, First Atlantic, Zenith and Standard Trust Banks. Mr Harry Stylianou, Chairman of Hysen International Limited, the mother company of Hysen Data Systems Limited (HDS), said its services would be extended to the rural areas, saying that "we are aware that Accra is not the whole of Ghana". 30 March 06