The Chief Executive of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS), a subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Archie Hesse, has called for increased education and active usage of available cashless payment solutions to help reduce the number of robbery attacks on persons carrying huge sums of cash.

There has been an uptick in the number of armed robbery attacks on bullion vans as well as on persons and institutions with huge sums of cash in recent times, with the latest being an attack which led to the death of a security guard at Ahenema Kokoben in the Ashanti Region.

In an interview with Citi Business News, Mr. Hesse noted that going cash-lite will serve as a good strategy to prevent robbery attacks.

“We have interoperability that has connected all mobile money wallets, all fintech wallets, and all bank accounts together. You can seamlessly transfer money from any bank account to another bank account instantly, and you can seamlessly do same from a bank account into any mobile wallet and vice-versa. A lot of the banks have also connected their internet banking channel to the ACH clearinghouse for transfer of huge amounts.”

“So all these things are there, if they weren’t then we can complain. But they are all there. What is now needed is the banks, fintechs and other service providers to educate their customers to try the platforms and start using them, a situation which will help in significantly reducing fraud and robberies associated with cash,” he added.
We must begin interrogating bank staff over bank-related robberies – Prof. Aning

Security analyst, Prof. Kwasi Aning, believes the time has come for financial institutions to embark on rigorous scrutiny of their staff following the increasing cases of bank-related robberies in the country.

He says routine checks must also be carried out on both company and personal electronic devices, used by the staff to assess information that might have aided such crimes if any.

The comments by Prof. Aning, who is also Director of Academic Affairs and Research Faculty at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), come on the heels of recent daylight robberies in parts of the capital, including one that a group of armed men trailed a woman from the bank and robbed her at Achimota.

“This lady who withdrew money from the bank, how did criminals know that he had money on her? Are we picking up people within that particular bank, checking their laptops and phone records, or if there is a compromise of such sensitive information to the client.”

“Some really critical questions need to be asked to assure us or those who use the banking facilities that the backgrounds of bank staff are checked, secured, and they are routinely also checked again because [this kind of crimes] raises serious fundamental questions because of the gang-style manner in which this operation was carried”, Prof. Aning in a media interview.