Net 1 to implement Ghana's National Switch and Smart Card Payment System

 The vision of the Bank of Ghana is to provide the Ghanaian financial services industry access to a state of the art technological platform that will allow for the sharing of all existing payment instruments and introduce a new biometrically protected smart card designed to deliver affordable financial services to the majority of all Ghanaian citizens.
The intention is for all twenty three (23) banks in Ghana to be connected to the Switch by December 2007.

It is well documented that, in most developing economies, the number of banked individuals is seldom greater than 20 percent of the economically active population and that the traditional payment channels offered do not operate successfully in rural environments where infrastructures such as electricity, water, communication and brick and mortar are lacking or simply not affordable.