Foreign remittance to bank account now a reality
Recipients of foreign remittance can now opt to have the money paid directly to their bank account.
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This has become possible following a collaboration between Unity Link, a remittance company, and Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS).
The collaboration also enables intended beneficiaries to receive their remittances directly on their e-zwich card.
The cash to account remittance, as it is called, brings about a lot of convenience as recipients would not need to queue to receive their money. It also prevents the situation where people queue to receive their remittance only to queue again to pay that money into their bank account.
Currently, only Unity Link is using this cash to account channel created by the GhIPSS although several remittance agencies have expressed interest in also signing up to it.
Since Unity Link started offering the cash to account option to its customers, a total of GH¢10.9 million has been paid directly to bank accounts of recipients, representing some 6,569 different remittance transactions.
Speaking in an interview, the Chief Executive of Unity Link, Mr Douglas Mensah, said the level of convenience that the cash to account provided had accounted for the increased customer interest in the service.
He added that it also helped recipients to save money received from relations abroad as the temptation to squander it when they received the physical cash would be avoided.
In the first month of the cash to account initiative, only GH¢95,000 was remitted through this channel, but close to GH¢3 million was remitted in October, showing an impressive growth in the patronage of the service.
Mr Mensah is hopeful that patronage will double during the yuletide as more people remit their relations for the Christmas festivities.
The cash to account form of remittance is one of the initiatives by GhIPSS to rope more people into the banking system and reduce the unbanked population.
The Chief Executive of GhIPSS, Mr Archie Hesse, commended Unity Link for believing in the initiative and playing a pioneering role and urged other remittance companies to use their service to create convenience and value addition for their customers.