GhIPSS supports two banking award categories
The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS) has decided to support another category of the Ghana Banking awards, to recognise the bank that drives cashless banking.
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This category will reward the bank that promotes payments with cards on Point of Sales devices, internet banking and cheques among other electronic payment products. This is in line with the mandate of GhIPSS to migrate Ghana into an electronic payment community.
For the first time last year, organisers of the Banking Awards, Corporate Initiative Ghana, introduced a category to reward the most active e-zwich bank of the year which was supported by GhIPSS.
The most active cashless bank therefore brings to two, the categories sponsored by the national payment infrastructure provider. The introduction of the latest category was announced during the launch of the 14th Ghana Banking Awards.
Indigenous bank, UT Bank, was by far the most active e-zwich bank of the 13th awards held last year. However, it is anticipated that the most active cashless bank will be fiercely contested, as more banks are seeking to reduce queues in the banking hall by providing several electronic banking products and services.
Cash transactions continue to dominate the Ghanaian economy when countries such as Nigeria, Rwanda and Kenya among others on the continent are making significant inroads into the cashless system.
In an interview, the Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse, said instituting the most active cashless bank of the year should go a long way to complement other efforts to move Ghana away from heavy dependence on cash transactions.
Ghana expends so much money in printing currency notes (cedis) which get worn out in no time and have to be replaced at a huge cost.
It is also expensive to manage cash, considering the frequency with which it must be moved around in bullion vans with tight security.
Mr Hesse explained that the more frequent cash is used, the more cost the country incurs in printing, managing and destroying cash. He noted that a chunk of that expenditure could be saved if more cards and less cash were used.
The Ghana Banking Awards is a vehicle to showcase and applaud best performing banks in various categories of the Ghanaian financial services market.
All banks operating in Ghana are eligible to participate in this event, which is determined in a very objective way through a nationwide survey of consumers of banking products and services.
The evaluation process is independent of the organisers of the awards and it is based on an objective and transparent methodology, which also considers the financials of the banks. Access Bank won the overall Bank of the Year at the 13th awards.
