Rural banks have finally been connected to the national electronic payment system, the e-zwich, officials of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) have said. Since the launch of the project earlier this year, only the universal banks have been hooked to the platform. However, the service has now been extended to eight rural banks in three different regions. The rural bank phase of the project began on a pilot basis with two banks, Manya Krobo and Union rural banks in the Eastern and Central regions respectively. After the successful completion of the pilot project, it has been extended to cover six other rural banks in the Ashanti region. They are Nwabiagya, Sekyere Odotobri and Adansi rural banks. The rest are the Atwima Kwanwoma and Amansie West rural banks. Four other rural banks, Dangme, Ga, La Community and Abokobi in the Greater Accra region are preparing to be set up on the e-zwich platform soon. Each of the rural banks has two of their branches also connected to the electronic platform. The extension of the service will enable people in those areas to also enjoy the benefit of the e-zwich experience. The e-zwich roll out is being done by GhIPSS, in conjuction with the ARB Apex Bank. Archie Hesse, General Manager of GhIPSS in charge of Project and Business Development said the roll out of the e-zwich services is being targeted at communities with a lot of economic activities including cocoa farming, and commerce. He pointed out that plans are advanced to begin paying cocoa farmers in particular on their e-zwich cards, adding that when the four rural banks from the Greater Accra are fully connected, GhIPSS will move from one region to the other to ensure that as many rural banks as possible are connected to the e-zwich. He noted that officials of the rural banks have been trained in order to issue the smart cards to their customers, adding that the rural banks will also have point of sales (POS) devices at their branches to enable their customers to load money onto their cards, withdraw money from them as well as transfer money from the card to other people who also have the e-zwich card.