The General Manager of Mobile Money Limited, a subsidiary of MTN Ghana, Eli Hini, says the role of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems, GhiPSS in the country’s payment system has to be properly defined.
According to Mr. Hini, there is a lack of clarity regarding what functions GhIPSS performs especially with the passage of the Payment Systems and Services Act, which is to regulate the activities of payment services providers among others.
In an interview with Citi Business News, Mr. Hini argued that, when clarity is provided, it will help the industry’s development.
“Just like we have defined Electronic Money Issuers and what they can do, financial technology companies etc., the role of GhIPSS needs to be properly defined so that we understand what they are expected to do and they are not to do; and what they add to the whole Payment Systems and Services Act implementation.”
“As an industry, that conversation needs to be had. We need to make sure that we have clarified everything with their role so we avoid any ambiguity in that matter,” he added.
The confusion surrounding the role of GhIPSS stems from the fact that while the company operates payment and settlement systems, which it offers to banks and mobile network operators at a fee, the company also remains a player in the payment space where it offers its own products.
These products, industry watchers, lament compete against the very companies that GhIPSS seemingly regulates, leading to a situation where the company is a regulator as well as a player in the same space.
These concerns follow arguments that GhiPSS, which is 100 percent owned by the Bank of Ghana, must be offloaded to industry players such as the banks and mobile network operators just as it is done in other jurisdictions like Nigeria.