BANK OF Ghana (BoG) has indicated it is committed to promoting an efficient payment ecosystem through the promotion of electronic modes of payments as alternatives to cash payments.
To this end, it has endorsed payment cards as a tangible, convenient, flexible and secure alternative to cash.
According to the BoG, which made this known, notwithstanding the availability of various payment card options in Ghana, their adoption and use are significantly low due to factors such as cost, security and technological challenges.
“Offshore processing of payment card transactions has been identified as one of the key drivers in the high cost of processing payment card transactions.
“It is envisaged that the domestic processing of payment card transactions which would be charged in Ghana cedis would reduce the cost of processing payment card transactions.”
It is in the light of the foregoing that the Central Bank has introduced draft guidelines for domestic processing of payment card transactions with payment cards.
These guidelines, the bank stated, are issued to companies providing payment card processing services to localise the processing of payment card transactions in Ghana with payment cards issued in Ghana. It has also set out appropriate modalities for conducting such business.