The Instant Pay is another payment system introduced by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), which enables an individual or organisation to transfer funds from one account to the other and the transfer will be effected instantly.

The introduction of the Instant Pay is to give businesses and individuals another payment option, which ensures instant transfer even with different banks.  Speaking in an interview, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse said businesses now have various options to choose from depending on their needs.

He said while cheques as well as ACH transactions could clear in two days and in a day for express transactions, businesses now have the option of real time interbank transfers. “Instant Pay is just like cash but more secured because once you issue the instruction through your bankers, the recipient receives the money instantly,” Mr Hesse said.

Delays in payment for goods remain a bottleneck for wholesalers and distributors and sometimes leads to delay in delivery of good. It gets worse when the distributor is not located in the same region as its supplier. Currently businesses are working hard to cash-in on the Christmas and New Year festivities while manufacturers and producers are also making sure they rake in enough to meet their annual target.

He explained that, for people who must make payment to get delivery of goods, Instant Pay is the best option.  “Imagine you are out of stock this Christmas season, you don’t have to go through the Christmas induced traffic to make cash payment. What if you’re not in the same town as your supplier? But with Instant Pay, just go online and transfer the money, it is instant, cheaper, secured and convenient” he added.

Mr. Hesse urged bank customers to talk to their banks to set them up for the Instant Pay transfers. Currently, most of the big banks are offering the Instant Pay service.