The Ghana Association of Bankers has described the decision by the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement System’s (GhIPPS) to end the waiving of fees it charged on services including Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI), GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP) and ACH Direct Credit as unilateral and bad for the image of the banking sector.
The association has therefore called for the halting of the decision until a firm conclusion is arrived after a meeting with GhIPSS and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana.
GhIPSS, in a statement yesterday noted that, even though it waived the fees on these products in response to the Central Bank’s call to all players in the payment system to waive some fees for at least three months due to the impact of COVID-19, it was hoping that fees on products such as cheques and e-zwich would make up the difference but the opposite has been the situation.
But the Ghana Bankers Association in a response letter to the Bank of Ghana said: “while we share in the expression of financial burden being born by all actors in the financial services sector who have implemented various forms of concessions during the pendency of COVID-19, we do not agree wit any unilateral withdrawal of waivers contrary to pronouncements made to the public.”
The letter further said: “banks, as collecting agents for GhIPSS, have in reliance of the waiver, communicated to our clients that the waiver of fees on digital platforms and other alternate channels for banking will be in force throughout the pendency of the epidemic.
Any unilateral withdrawal of the waivers by GhIPSS will be detrimental to the image and credibility of the banking industry. We are, therefore, by this letter calling for a meeting with GhIPSS and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to urgently discuss this emerging development and will respectfully ask that until such meeting is held and firm decision take, GhIPSS suspends decision taken on the withdrawal of the waivers.”
