'Abolish Statutory Transfer Limit'

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has been urged to remove the statutory limit of transfer of money from one African country to the other.

Presently, an individual can transfer $10,000 to another person in another country on the African continent.

But speaking at the second in the series of breakfast meetings organized by United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana Limited, out-going Managing Director, Gabriel Edgal, who was very passionate about this issue, said restriction of transfer of money was unnecessary, adding that such decisions affect the development of the financial sector and the country as a whole.

'Even if the money is a stolen one, it is used to develop our countries that we are yearning for and so why should we restrict transfer of funds into another country.'

Speaking on payment systems in Ghana, Mr. Edgal said integration of the African continent can only be achieved when financial integration is intensified.

He noted that converting one currency to the other should be possible and efficient, adding that it is rather the secondary reserves that should be protected for the import cover.

He called for the education of customers and the people so as to boost their confidence to carry out financial transactions through the payment systems.

He noted that UBA as a pan-African Bank will come out with a solution to promote payment systems.

'The solution is here on the market, so that electronic cards can be used for any ATM. We need to create a single platform. The system in Nigeria works well and we need to do the same in Ghana,' said Mr. Edgal.

Daniel Addo, Deputy Managing Director, UBA Ghana, who gave a presentation on payment systems, noted that mobile banking was the future of banking, adding that the banks and telecommunication companies should collaborate to make payment systems more efficient.

He revealed that payment systems have contributed to the growth of the banking sector, stressing that government should play a key role for it to be successful.

Yorku Korsah, Chief Operating Officer, Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS), for his part, acknowledged the significance of the payment system, saying it has been able to attract the unbanked population to transact business with the banks.

He noted that patronage of the e-zwich services has gone up this year though it started slowly.

The meeting was attended by some public sector officials and CEOs of some private entities.

By Charles Nixon Yeboah