e-zwich services extended to 75 new agent outlets

Some 75 merchant outlets are now offering e-zwich services to complement the efforts of financial institutions.

The move is to make the biometric payment system available to many people as patronage goes up significantly. These outlets are in Greater Accra, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Central and Western regions and will soon cover the entire country.

The volume of e-zwich transactions went up by over 100 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2015, while value of transactions was up by over 212 per cent.

Transactions increase

The Chief Executive of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), Mr Archie Hesse, explained the increased volume of transactions meant that the existing outlets offering e-zwich services, which were mainly bank branches and ATMs, were inadequate. That compelled the GhIPSS to partner private enterprises to offer e-zwich services.

He said the inclusion of private enterprises in the offering of e-zwich services would bring a lot of convenience to cardholders, adding that people would no longer need to go long distances to access e-zwich services.

Agents and customer service

GhIPSS, he said, would also continue to engage many enterprises to ensure that e-zwich services become very common.

“Agents or merchants offering e-zwich services have the signage displayed and they have been trained to enable them to give the best of services.”

Mr Hesse said the extension of e-zwich services to those outlets should gradually also put to an end complaints by some cardholders of irregular services, saying: “With these new outlets, GhIPSS is ready for huge numbers using the card, including our plans to bring public sector workers on board.”

Currently, about 47 different institutions use the e-zwich to make various payments such as allowances, salaries and commissions with less than 10 of them being state institutions.

The GhIPSS CEO urged the e-zwich service merchants to be professional and deliver excellent customer services, while calling on other enterprises to freely contact GhIPSS to be able to offer the service as it holds good business prospects.