The deployment of Point of Sales (POS) terminals ‘a computerized replacement for a cash register to process debit and credit cards’ has increased to 10,278 in October 2020 from 8,687 in October 2019, reducing frequent visits to the banking hall.
This means a total of 1,591 Point of Sale Terminal have been deployed since October last year, translating into a year-on-year increase of 18.3 percent and implying a rise in the accessibility to cashless modes of payment by customers.
On a monthly basis, the deployment of point of sales terminals also surged marginally by 0.8 percent from 10,195 recorded in the month of September this year.
This is according to the latest summary of financial and economic data released by the Bank of Ghana.
In the same vein, 105 additional Automated teller Machines (ATMs) have been distributed since October last year increasing the number of ATMs from 2,117 to 2,222 by the end of October 2020, representing an upsurge of approximately 5 percent yearly, the Bank of Ghana mentioned.
The availability of such payment terminals will probably reduce the number of persons queuing at the banking hall and may go a long way to support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic which hit the shores of Ghana early March this year. This is because with fewer persons, monitoring and ensuring that required safety protocols are observed is easier.
Also, the number of debit cards issued have also shot up to 4.8 million cards in the month of October 2020 as against 4.2 million cards recorded in the same period last year, representing an increase in debit card requests by 14.3 percent on a yearly basis as well as 4.4 percent higher than the total number of 4.6 million debit cards issued in September 2020, the Bank of Ghana revealed.
Likewise, the Bank of Ghana summary of financial and economic data shows that credit cards and prepaid cards surged year-on-year with credit cards rising by 10.4 percent from 29 thousand in October 2019 to settle at 32 thousand in October 2020. Prepaid cards increased sharply by about 58 percent to 540 thousand by the end of October this year from 342 cards issued last year.
Although prepaid cards issued keep increasing every month, credit cards remained unchanged since August this year, the Bank of Ghana remarked.
Cumulatively, an additional 100 thousand persons enrolled on the E-zwich platform from December last year making cumulative enrollment 3.1 million. By the beginning of the third quarter, this hit 3.2 million, representing a marginal upsurge of 3.2 percent and remains unchanged up to the end of October 2020.
Simultaneously, total transactions value for E-zwich also augmented from GHS 602.8 million recorded in October 2019 to 872 million in October 2020, indicating a year-on-year increase of 44.7 percent, the Bank of Ghana added.
In contrast, the total number of transactions keep on fluctuating throughout the period under review and has decreased significantly by approximately 88 percent from 1152 thousand recorded in October 2019 to 613 thousand in October 2020.
The Bank of Ghana posits that the Gh-link card has also witnessed a substantial increase of about 26.7 percent in total transactions value rising from GHS 23.6 million recorded in October 2019 and reaching up to GHS 29.9 million by end of October 2020. However, total number of transactions remains at 71 thousand.
For Ghipss Instant Pay (GIP), both total transactions value and number escalated. With total transactions value increasing from GHS 236.5 million in October 2019 to a whooping GHS1.07 billion. Similarly, total number of transactions shot up from 310 thousand to 748 thousand in the same period, the Bank of Ghana opined.
