Payment of student loans in tertiary institutions will soon be done through the e-zwich biometric smart card. Talks are currently on-going between officials of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GHIPSS) and the Students Loan Trust for the payment to be effected through the smart cards.
The General Manager, Projects and Business Development of GHIPSS, Archie Hesse, disclosed this in an interview at a bank fair at the University of Ghana , Legon. The fair is part of a series of mass registration exercises being undertaken by GHIPPS and the banks to enable as many people as possible to get the card.
The National Switch and Smartcard Payments System, dubbed: e-zwich was introduced in April with a few banks on pilot basis and was gradually extended to cover the other banks. The Bank of Ghana hopes that the nationwide accessibility of the e-zwich would reduce cash handling, ensure personal safety in payment system and eliminate inflationary price rounding-up practices. Mr Hesse said GHIPSS is also holding discussions with officials of pharmaceutical shops, oil marketing companies, shopping malls, the accountant general’s department as well as the Cocoa industry to register, accept and use the cards.
