E-zwich Cards Out

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Some banks in the country have begun issuing biometric or e-zwich smartcards to customers, indicating their readiness to kick-start the programme which will make Ghana a significant player in the global financial market.

Already, HFC Bank, Ecobank Ghana Limited and Barclays Bank have since Monday been issuing e-zwich smartcards as well as Point of Sale (POS) devices to clients and merchants that will be using the machines for their businesses.

According to the Ghana Interbank Payment Settlement System (GIPPS), Ghana Commercial Bank, Stanbic Bank, Agricultural Development Bank and the National Investment Bank will also from next Monday June 2, 2008 start issuing the biometric smartcard and the POS devices that is expected to attract the 'under-banked' and 'un-banked' population to save their monies with banks or financial institutions.

SG-SSB, Bank of Baroda and BSIC Ghana Limited will issue theirs on June 9.

The e-zwich services are already available at the Guaranty Trust, Fidelity, Merchant, UBA, Prudential and CAL banks.

So far, about 100 large and small-scale companies have already received POS machines that permit them to use the equipment for their businesses.

This means POS devices have been deployed in market places, banks, supermarkets and government payment centers.

The country presently boasts of 26 banks, with nearly 600 branches nationwide, with the expansion still continuing.

There are also 123 rural banks with branches throughout the country and the e-zwich will facilitate access to, and transfer of money, and also remove the cumbersome and insecure processes of using cash.

It will also allow smartcard holders to spend and settle various transactions online and offline since it is a new very secure way of paying for goods and services based on the biometric or finger print identification.

Not only will the burden of carrying huge sums of monies be reduced, but it will also decrease robbery.

By Charles Nixon Yeboah

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