Access Bank Ghana has added the Visa Prepaid Card to its bouquet of card products to strengthen its retail banking operations.

Announcing the new service at the National Hajj Village in Accra, Mr. Dolapo Ogundimu, Managing Director of Access Bank said the launch of the card was consistent with the bank's promise of service excellence and innovation to customers.

"We believe that this product also affirms our reputation as a leader in customer focused products and services”, he added.

He said the introduction of the Access Visa Prepaid Cards was crucial at this time because it gives the over 5,800 Hajj pilgrims a safe, reliable and convenient way of keeping and accessing their monies during their stay in Saudi Arabia.

The Chairman of the National Hajj Committee, Alhaji Rauf Tanko, thanked Access Bank for providing the cards for the convenience of Hajj pilgrims.

He noted that the Bank’s support of the National Hajj Committee over the past four years has been meaningful and was confident that the Committee will continue to partner the bank to support the Hajj programmes and activities in the future.

Explaining the benefits of the card, Mr. Stephen Abban, Group Head of Retail Banking at Access Bank, said that the product had been designed with the customer in mind.

According to him the Visa Prepaid Card uses the chip and pin technology thus guaranteeing its safety, reliability and convenience.

Stating some of the unique benefits of the Access Prepaid Card, Mr. Abban noted that card holders can avoid exchange rate losses since they don’t have to go through the stress of buying foreign currency and changing it into the local currency of their destination country upon arrival.

He also added that there are no monthly interest charges and card holders do not have to be customers of the Bank to sign-on to the product.

The Access Bank Visa Prepaid card is a cedi denominated card that allows both customers and non-customers to load cash and access loaded funds from millions of Visa ATMs, POS or even internet anywhere in the world.

The product is targeted at short stay travelers such as the Hajj pilgrims, business men and women, students and professionals who pay for professional subscriptions abroad.