Shared ATMs service to be launched today

A long-held dream for banks in Ghana to share each other’s Automated Teller Machines (ATM) has now become a reality and will be launched on Wednesday, officials of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) have disclosed.

This will be a landmark achievement in the financial services sector in the country. So far, 13 banks have reconfigured their systems and can now accept each other’s ATM cards. This means customers of these banks can access their bank accounts and make withdrawals from the ATMs of any of these nine banks.

Until now, only customers of banks which issued Visa branded cards could enjoy this service; but currently customers of these 13 banks can use their local ATM cards and access their accounts from the ATM outlets of the other banks.

The banks, which include major financial institutions, are Ghana Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Agriculture Development Bank and Zenith Bank. Others are HFC Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Ut Bank, Prudential Bank, and the Bank of Africa.  The rest are Unibank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Stanbic Bank and Ecobank.  Access Bank is expected to be on board by the time the service is launched.

The launch of the service known, as the Interbank ATM Switching Transaction, is expected to bring a lot of relief to bank customers. It is a project that has been in the hearts of many because of the frustration that bank customers go through in search of their specific banks’ ATMs when technology can allow them to use any ATM available to access their bank account.

GhIPSS, which has led the reform of the country’s payment systems, acquired the National Electronic Platform (christened gh-link) to enable all banks to interconnect and ensure that Ghana moves away from the era when customers had to travel long distances to access their money from an ATM.

Speaking ahead of the launch, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS Archie Hesse indicated that transactions monitored clearly show that the public is already using the ATMs of banks other than theirs, showing that they are already enjoying the service. “We notice that the take-up has been rising, and it is obvious that the public is on board” Mr. Hesse noted.

The interbank ATM switching is the first phase of a series of new services that will be launched on the gh-link. Mr. Hesse said after the ATMs are linked, the next phase will be to enable the local ATM cards to be used in Point of Sale (POS) devices, so that bank customers can shop with their normal ATM cards -- another major feat that will soon be achieved.

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