Banks urged to ensure electronic compatibility with GIPSS

Daily Graphic, Pg. 27, Thursday Dec. 11/08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

THE Bank of Ghana has called on all financial institutions to ensure that their electronic products and services are compatible with the systems being put in place by the Ghana Inter-bank Payment and Settlement System (GIPSS).
The GIPSS is an independent body responsible for the various components of the country's payment and settlement system infrastructure.
The Assistant Director of Banking Supervision Department of the BOG, Mr Philip E. Cobbinah, made the call at the official opening of a new savings and loans company known as Advans Ghana Savings and Loans Limited in Accra on Friday.
Mr Cobbinah mentioned the electronic products currently being used in the country to include the national switch, biometric smart cards, cheque code line clearing, real time gross settlement systems and the automated clearing house.
He said the BoG, in collaboration with the Bankers Association and as part of measures to deepen financial inter-mediation, established the GIPSS to regulate the financial sector.
He said in recent times, the financial sector witnessed the emergence of a number of new financial institutions, the rapid opening of their branches, introduction of innovative products and services and extension of banking hours, among others.
“This increased dynamism has encouraged healthy competition in the industry and has brought in its wake the introduction of enhanced financial services tailored to meet the needs of customers, for which the BoG is fully supportive,” Mr Cobbinah said.
He said financial inter-mediation played an important role in the socio-economic development and growth of any nation, adding that financial institutions were at the heart of this inter-mediation process.
“By mobilising funds from surplus units and transferring the needed funds to deficit units, financial institutions make resources available to stimulate economic activities,” Mr Cobbinah said, adding that financial institutions channelled idle resources into investment and development projects.
In an address read on his behalf, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MFEP), Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, said the government had put in place several strategies aimed at encouraging the establishment of micro-financial institutions and supporting their efforts as part of the ongoing financial sector reforms to deepen the scope and scale of financial services and payment systems for the country.
He said as an economy in which 90 per cent of companies were small and medium enterprises, the government, in its desire to support this vital sector, had sourced a US$25-million facility from its development partners and a US$50-million micro-credit and small loans fund in addition to the establishment of a Venture Capital Trust Fund and a US$118.9 million project, all to support SMEs to get increased access to credit at a cheaper cost to enable them to grow.
He urged all institutions and the private sector in general to take advantage of the enabling environment created by the government to expand and strengthen the economy.
The Board Chairman of Advans, Mr Claud Flagon, in an address, said the company chose to operate in Ghana because of the peaceful environment and stable economy of the country.
He said the company was going to create an enabling environment for a network service which wouldl be beneficial to its customers.
The Managing Director of Advans, Mr Tongiy Gravot, in a welcoming address, said the company’s aim was to provide microfinance services to small and medium enterprises.