Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia will on Wednesday, August 6, launch a GhIPSS bank card, which has the functionalities of an e-zwich and gh-link card, as part of efforts to encourage the use of cards for transactions.

It is to provide the public with the option of carrying one card with dual functionality instead of two separate cards.

The e-zwich has seen steady rise in transactions over the past years. In the first half of this year alone, over 5.5 million e-zwich transactions took place, representing an increase of over 51 percent over the same period in 2018, which was about 3.6 million transactions.

The continuous growth in e-zwich transactions suggests that there are several people who use e-zwich cards but also have their regular gh-link cards and are compelled to carry both cards at all times.

However, with the introduction of the new card, such people can opt for it but still enjoy the functionalities of both.

It is anticipated that more people will be inclined to carry one card and use it regularly than to carry two or more cards each time.

Mr Archie Hesse, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS, said he was positive that the various efforts at promoting electronic payments were yielding good results, adding that, GhIPSS would continue to roll out new initiatives to further deepen electronic payments in Ghana.

Although cash transactions continue to dominate, available figures point to a gradual reduction, as the volume of electronic payment transactions see consistent growth.

In the first half of this year, the volume of electronic payment transactions monitored by GhIPSS stood at over 16 million compared to 12.2 million transactions for the first half year of 2018, representing an increase of over 31 percent.

In order to continue to reduce cash base transactions, various efforts continued to be pursued by key stakeholders such as GhIPSS, the Banks, Fintechs and other related organisations. The launch of the new card is, therefore, one of such efforts to encourage more people to opt for electronic payment channels.