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The use of e-bills pay at public institutions can reduce the human interface and help bring down corruption, officials of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) have said.

Mr. Archie Hesse, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS, said a number of organisations were setting up to use the e-bills pay to enhance and make their payments more efficient and easy to account for.

The E-bills pay is an electronic payment system that enables large corporate institutions to receive payment via the internet or mobile applications. It is one of the latest initiatives by (GhIPSS), the national payment infrastructure provider.

The e-bills pay fashioned on the back of the GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP), enables payments to be made and received immediately. The payment is made through banks, which have hooked their systems to the GIP platform. However, the receiving organisation must be set up to operate the system.

The e-bills pay can be used by both private and public organisations. It is considered very suitable for manufacturing companies, which deal with many wholesalers and retailers. It can also be used by airlines and big hotels to receive payments from customers and also suitable for public sector institutions, which receive taxes, levies and fees.

Mr. Hesse said beyond improving on efficiencies within organisations, the public being able to make payments electronically to institutions imply that the human interface would be significantly reduced.

This, he said, could remove some of the opportunities for various forms of corruption, and reduce the instances of pilfering, as payment would not pass through a cashier but go straight to the bank account of the institution.
Mr. Hesse said, while e-bills pay could play a role in reducing corruption, its efficiency and audit as well as the fact that the institutions would get their money the very moment it is paid, are the motivation for encouraging the institutions to adopt it.

He however said that there are several other uses and benefits that can be derived and urged the institutions to reach out to their banks or GhIPSS to be set up to receive payments through the e-bills pay system.

The global financial system is fast drifting towards instant pay, because it facilitates quick turnaround time for businesses. The introduction of GIP and now the e-bills pay therefore firmly places Ghana within the League of Nations with modernized payments.

Source:GNA

The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS) has witnessed consistent growth in the value and volume of its various transactions since its inception and last year was no exception as the value of transactions increased from GH¢174 billion in 2016 to GH¢208 billion, representing a growth of 19 per cent.

This was achieved through its four platforms, including the Cheque Codeline Clearing (CCC) System, which recorded a value of transaction of GH¢179 billion, the Ghana Automated Clearing House (GACH) system which recorded GH¢24.4 billion, and the e-zwich platform which recorded GH¢3.4 billion.

The value of transaction for the gh-link platform was GH¢ 600 million, while GIP, as service on the gh-link platform recorded GH¢83 million.

GhIPSS, sharing its 2017 performance with the media, also indicated that the volumes of transactions increased from 20 million in 2016 to 25 million representing a growth of 20 per cent.

This is good news for the country as it appears more people keep switching to electronic payments with each passing day.
A switch to electronic payment is expected to prevent and or contain risks in payment, clearing and settlement systems; and also help establish a robust oversight and regulatory regime for the payment and settlement system.
It would also bring efficiency to fiscal operations of the government, deepen financial intermediation, as well as promote financial inclusion without risking the safety and soundness of the banking system.

e-zwich
The e-zwich platform recorded the highest increase with a growth of 45 per cent and 56 per cent in value and volume respectively, with international remittances received by the e-zwich recording the highest growth.
Although enrolment figures in 2017 declined by two per cent, a total of 491,121 new enrolments occurred, thus bringing the number of e-zwich cardholders to 2.3 million.

Payments via e-zwich by government agencies and ministries, as well as foreign donors and some private institutions, remained the key driver of growth for e-zwich transactions.

The volume of payment distribution systems (PDS) in 2017 was 2.9 million, representing an increase of 37 per cent over the same period in 2016.

The value of PDS within the same period also increased to GH¢940 million, representing an increase of 39 per cent over the same period in 2016.

gh-link
In 2017, gh-link transaction recorded an increase of 35 per cent in total value as it increased from GH¢447 million to GH¢603 million.
While ATM withdrawals are the main drivers of gh-link transactions, POS transactions recorded the highest growth in 2017 as they increased from GH¢168,610 to GH¢ 281,330.

GIP platform
The GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP) service at the end of 2017 had processed a total of 41,795 transactions and the value of these transactions amounted to GH¢83 million.
The growth of GIP transactions was fuelled by the adoption of the product by third party payment gateways and international remittance companies.

Outlook for 2018
Outlining its objectives for 2018, GhIPPS pointed out that it intended to promote its GIP platform and implement its electronic bill payment which seeks to provide a platform that will allow billers, such as utility service providers receive payments from customers instantly through the GIP service.
GhIPSS also intends to partner the mobile network operators (MNO) to promote functionalities of the mobile money interoperability service, promote e-zwich as a financial instrument and promote bulk payments.
It also intends to partner third party payment companies and promote domestic card transactions through the gh-link EMV card.

Source: Daily Graphic

The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) is seeking to reduce the turnaround time for payment of goods and services with the introduction of an E-bills payment service.

The service is among others expected to reduce the use of cash as government works to attain a cashless economy.

The CEO of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse explains that the e-bills payment service will enable billers (manufactures, Utility Service Providers etc) receive payments for goods and services using the Instant pay service.

The E-bills connects the payment platform for a specific merchant with GhIPSS instant pay which allows Instant interbank transactions.

“So if the distributors for a cement factory for example wants to make payment to a manufacturer, they could go unto their banks internet portal or app, select e-bills pay, complete the transaction process, and manufacturers account will be credited instantly. Currently you would have to go to designated banks to pay. But what the e-bills service offer is an opportunity to pay any biller directly from your account without any physical movement of cash” he told Citi Business News.

Already, the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) have advanced plans to hook unto the platform.

The two institutions are seeking to reduce the turnaround time for payments and prevent revenue leakages.

Mr. Hesse tells Citi Business News his outfit is working closely with the institution.

“We just started and two main government institutions (GCNet and GIFMIS) have come to see us that they want to link their payment systems with instant pay. In so doing with GCNet for example, once you get the order number and complete the online payment process, you do not need to go to the Port; GCNet will debit the clients account and credit that of the port.”

Total GhIPSS transactions hit GH¢208bn

In 2017, the volume of total transactions processed on all GhIPSS platforms reached 25 million.

This translated into a value of 208 billion cedis; up from the 174 billion cedis recorded in the preceding year.

Of this, transactions on the clearing house which involves express cheques and direct credit among banks, recorded the highest increase of 204 billion cedis.

Meanwhile, payment via e-zwich by government agencies, foreign donors and some private institutions remain key drivers of growth for e-zwich transactions.

Source: Citifmonline.com

Banks and third-party companies have been commended for their role in driving patronage for electronic payments in the past year.

The role by these institutions and their customers have led to significant growth in the various electronic payments products and services, the management of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), has noted.

The GhIPSS also mentioned the adoption of the various payment channels by government as well as non-government agencies for the performance in 2017 and previous years.

Speaking in an interview, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse, explained that the organisation does not deal directly with the public but rather works through financial institutions and third-party payment companies in order to serve the public.

He said the role of the partners was crucial to the success of the electronic payment agenda, and commended them for the partnership, urging them to do more this year and the years ahead.

Mr Hesse said the continuous growth in e-zwich transactions was commendable and encouraged financial institutions to make additional provision to be able to serve the growing numbers of e-zwich users.

The GhIPSS Boss said they would engage the media a lot more this year, in its bid to sensitise the public on the need to embrace electronic payment as a lifestyle, so that the individual and the economy as a whole will benefit from the effective application of technology to payments.

The GhIPSS was set up over a decade ago to modernise the country’s payment system and migrate Ghana into an electronic society. Since its establishment, the Bank of Ghana subsidiary has rolled out a number of initiatives that has led to a significant rise in non-cash forms of payments.

The services include e-zwich, electronic clearing of cheques, Automated Clearing House, Gh-link ATM interoperability, and hybrid Point of Sales (POS) devices.

The institution, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, has also introduced the GhIPSS Instant Pay and enabled foreign remittance agencies to be able to remit directly into the bank account or e-zwich card of recipients.

The various services provided by GhIPSS saw a growth in patronage and this feat is being attributed to the effective partnership between GhIPSS and its key stakeholders.

Source: GNA