The Ghana Inter-bank Payment and Settlements Systems (GhIPSS) has charged banks in the country to expand the Instant Pay service to afford bank customers more flexibility and convenience.

The instant pay service allows bank account holders to transfer money from their accounts to another account instantly even if the recipient is with another bank.

The real-time payment service was recently launched as part of initiatives towards attaining a cash-light economy.

The Chief Executive of GHIPSS Archie Hesse spoke with Joy Business today during a meeting with banks, telcos and other stakeholders towards full implementation of the service and tasked them to develop solutions to the benefit of customers. 

"The world is moving very fast, it would be a big shame if you are able to order things quickly but when it comes to payment it lets you down. It takes a second for two to place an order but it might take you a whole day to make payment, which is not good for business," he said. 

He said as GhIPSS is responsible for payment in Ghana, they have introduced the cheque clearing which takes a day as well as the express cheque.  

"We have also moved on to the ACH direct clearing system which is also same day payment and this is an opportunity where are offering the instant pay which is needed are now being introduced in most countries, he told Joy Business. 

This system of payment started in the United Kingdom some ten years ago but there has been a direct shift where 90 percent of the payments are currently made via the Instant Pay system.   

Statistics show that the use of cheques and direct credit have slowed down while everything has migrated to Instant Pay. 

"What is important is that, once the Instant Pay solution is in place,businesses must create solutions around it," he stated. 

He adds that this brings the country a lot closer to achieving its cash-light economy agenda.

"It is for the Central Bank, to ensure that we are going to have a lot of funds in the banking system which will have an effect on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), on liquidity in the country and also on interest rates. If you have more funds in  the banking sector, you have more to lend out," he emphasised.