Customers of universal banks in Ghana to receive domestic cards dubbed ‘gh-link cards’, according to Ghana’s interbank payment entity

This, GhIPSS said will be issued before the end of this year.

The Chief Executive of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse who made the revelation noted that the issuance will, however, not prevent customers from getting an international card.

The gh-link is the generic name for domestic cards in Ghana issued by the various banks, and Ghana allows the use of both domestic and international bank cards.

But some financial institutions do not issue domestic cards, placing their customers at a disadvantage.

GhIPSS has noted that the new development will give customers the option to decide which card to use for their transactions instead of being limited to international cards only.

It, however, noted that the move is set to change from the beginning of next year.

Background

Universal banks in the country earlier this year agreed that all local bank account holders should be issued with gh-link cards by December 2019.

They also agreed to ensure that by July this year, all their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Point of Sales (PoS) and e-commerce would be gh-link compliant.

The need for banks to issue all their local account holders with gh-link cards follows a global trend towards domestic scheme cards.

Nigeria, India, Brazil and Malaysia are notable examples of countries where domestic schemes cards are making super inroads with obvious benefits to their economies.