BANKS IN the country have begun preparing for the Cheque Code-Line Truncating, a new payment system which will see the clearance of cheques within a day instead of the three days or more.
The Cheque Code-Line Truncating is one of the payment systems that is being introduced by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPPS), a subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana.
Already, the E-zwich is in operation, while the Mobile Payment System has kicked-started, with MTN being the first telecommunication company to roll out the new system.
Banks such as Ecobank, HFC, Zenith and UBA are all readying themselves to embrace this new payment system, as the live server was almost ready.
Originally, GhIPPS had planned to introduce the Cheque Code-Line Truncating, along with the Automated Clearing House System in July.
While the Cheque Code-Line Truncating will make cheque clearing faster, enabling it to be cleared within a day, Automated Clearing House System, will act as a central clearing facility for all electronic fund transfer or the clearing of electronic debits and credits by the same period.
Achie Hesse, General Manager, Business Development, GhIPPS, had earlier told BUSINESS GUIDE in an interview that the first phase of the projects had been completed.
He explained that all the 26 banks except Access Bank had been trained and were ready to embrace the new payment systems which will add another dimension to their business.
In the USA, the Automated Clearing House payments system was designed to allow corporations and consumers to reduce or eliminate the use of paper checks to make routine payments.
It could process large volumes of individual payments electronically, and became the largest payments system in the country in 2000 as it processed over 4.8 billion items with a total value of more than $12 trillion.
On the other hand, the Cheque Code-Line Truncating also enables consumers and businesses to benefit from the speedier and more efficient process, especially in the timing of availability of funds from the deposit of outstation cheques, cheque conversion facility and the return of unpaid cheques to payee.
Dr. Paul Acquah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, lauded the legislative reforms that had made it possible for a modern banking and financial services industry in Ghana, especially the Banking Amendment Act, the Payment System Act, and the CSD Act, among others.
According to him, a safe and efficient payments system was a key component of the economic and financial infrastructure.
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