Speaking to Accra-based Starr FM, Director General of the NLA Kofi Osei-Ameyaw said the formalisation will be done in phases.

“We are going to license a certain number of them within every region. We have 10 regions; for Greater Accra Region we will be looking for about 30-50 operators on the top. If each one pays a million cedis in a year that gives us about 30-50 million.”

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“If we don’t get the total number and some want to operate and pay, we will give them the license and they will then employ the writers underneath them and they will be the ones writing. So once we do that they can go ahead as licensed banker to banker operators who are not using the Point of Sale (POS) machines,” Osei-Ameyaw explained further.

He further added that operators with POS machines will also be given the opportunity to pay wins directly to customers.

“We are also going to make sure that those who are also doing Point of Sale in collaboration with the banks can also do Point of payment; so that they are not disadvantaged by the banker to banker operators.”

Osei-Ameyaw said such plans will triple earnings to the government. Formalisation of the banker to banker operators is estimated to generate between GHC150-200 million for the government.

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Every year the NLA pays about Gh¢35 million to the government. But the government taxes the commission it gives operators as well as wins.

However, Osei-Ameyaw said they have begun talks with the appropriate officials in government to scrap taxes on the commission it gives operators as well as the tax on wins.

The authority has also started actions to increase the commissions paid operators from 20 to 25 percent.