From a total value of transaction of only 3.8 million Ghana cedis in its first year of operations in 2008, it has seen a huge jump to 174.5 billion Ghana cedis last year.Established in May of 2007, GhIPSS was mandated to migrate Ghana into an electronic payment community as part of efforts to modernise the country’s payment system.

The Bank of Ghana subsidiary began with the introduction of e-zwich biometric smart cards and later went on to introduce the Payment Distribution System that enabled various emoluments to be paid through the e-zwich system.

Interacting with journalists, the Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS, Mr. Archie Hesse said the various initiatives introduced over the years have been recording consistent growth year in year out.

From that first year’s value of 3.8 million Ghana cedis, it increased consistently over the years to 54.6 billion Ghana cedis, three years after in 2011, and 125 billion Ghana cedis in 2014.The year 2015 recorded a figure of 147.5 billion Ghana cedis, while last year recorded a value of 174 billion Ghana cedis.

He said the significant growth in the value of the transaction that GhIPSS records, was an indication of a gradual but significant drop in cash transactions.He said with continuous development of new initiatives and the effective collaborations from the banks and other stakeholders, electronic forms of payment will eventually become the norm in Ghana.

Apart from e-zwich, GhIPSS has also introduced the electronic clearing of cheques, the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system, Gh-link ATM interoperability, the hybrid point of sales devices and the instant pay among others.“Last year, it also became possible for foreign remittances to be paid directly into the bank account of the recipients as well as directly onto the e-zwich card,” he added.

Mr Hesse explained that these various initiatives that were implemented through the banking system have accounted for the consistent and significant growth in the value of transactions.

He said the outlook was even better as some initiatives introduced last year will gain momentum this year, adding that the story is good as the company marks its 10th year of existence.