Ghanaians would soon transact business at shopping centers, fuel stations, restaurants and pharmacies across the country with their normal ATM cards directly.
This forms part of a pilot project by GhIPSS to get point of sales devices onto such segments of the Ghanaian market.
According to the Ghana Interbank payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS), which made this known, the use of ATM cards would help the a fore-mentioned outlets to extend their opening hours without fear of robbery attacks.
Mary Dei-Sarpong, Business Development Manager at GhIPPS, who disclosed this to City & Business Guide in an interview, said apart from the PoS devices that GhIPSS would deploy, banks and shop owners could also acquire their devices.
She explained that because of the large number of people who have local ATM cards, the use of PoS devices would be significantly high.
It is for this reason that GhIPSS has called on shop owners to adopt the devices as soon as practicable. “Various transactional fees could accrue to the use of the PoS to the shop owners depending on whether they own it or not.
Mrs. Dei-Sarpong said GhIPSS was ready to assist shops, fuel stations, as well as pharmacies on how to acquire the devices.
Currently, PoS devices either accept only e-zwich cards or foreign branded electronic payment cards such as Visa and Master Card.
But in the coming weeks, PoS devices which can accept the normal ATMs. E-zwich cards would be deployed in shops.
GhIPSS has already begun piloting the new hybrid in its offices and various payments made to the Bank of Ghana subsidiary are receivable on the POS.
Within the new week, about nine of such devices would be placed at key shopping centers as part of the pilot project. The number would then be increased to over 300 within a month.
In most developed countries, people make payments with electronic cards.
Ghana would join other nations where electronic cards are prevalent, Mrs Dei-Sapong said.
She indicated that the devices could be used for third party processes such as payment of bills which could earn additional income for shop owners.
It prevent pilfering by shop attendants as payments made directly hits the bank accounts of the shop, she noted.
Source: Samuel Boadi/Daily Guide
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