The government has sourced 7.5 million Euros to finance the e-zwich rural branchless banking project.The project involves a countrywide biometric system which allows the delivery of quality financial services to the remote parts of the country, especially the unbanked and the under-banked.The Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, said this at the launch of the Ghana Automated Clearing House (GACH) Systems in Accra.He stressed the importance of the financial sector to continuously reinforce their competitive edge through product design, innovation and branding, as well as expanding to capture new markets through efficient payment and settlement system.He said the automated clearing house would increase the speed and efficiency of payment systems, especially the transfer and collection of funds among banks and customers of the commercial banks.“This is another significant achievement of GHIPPS and indeed, a major addition to our retail payment systems,” he said.“This technology will permit offline transaction and fingerprint recognition, making it highly suitable for rural areas and for the uneducated people in our country,” the finance minister added.What is needed, he said, was the promotion of the existing retail payment, as well as other emerging payments through both traditional bank branches and branchless banking outlets to bring about financial inclusiveness for the unbanked and the under-banked.“This is based on the realisation that nearly 80 per cent of Ghanaians are unbanked or under-banked,” he said. A deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr H.A.K Wampah, said the automated GACH would align Ghana with international standards associated with modern payments systems for the clearing of electronic debts and credits.He said the establishment of GACH implied that businesses and the general public could initiate automated payments through their banks without having to rely on a paper payment instrument.“GACH will also increase the speed and safety of payment transactions, as well as provide greater choice to payers,” he said.One of the expected challenges in the payment system, he said, was to promote large scale use of the electronic modes of payment across the country, which requires addressing the constraints that impede the adoption of the mechanism.Mr. Fred France, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GHIPPS), said GACH would afford commercial banks the opportunity to process payment instructions on their own behalf and for their customers and also convert them into electronic payment instructions of others which are then forwarded to other banks for the credit of those banks own account.“These transactions are referred to as direct credit transfers and enable a push of funds from a buyer through these bankers to the stated beneficiary’s bank for the credit of the beneficiary’s account”.The Board Chairman of MIDA, Professor Samuel Sefa-Dede, said the launch of GACH built on the capabilities of rural banks, which are mainly privately-owned.Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana