Net1 in R200m Ghana bank deal

Johannesburg, 27 Jun 2007

Electronic payment provider Net1 UEPS Technologies has won a R200 million tender from the Bank of Ghana to install a central payment system for the country's 23 banks by December.

Net1 senior VP of marketing and sales Brenda Stewart says the contract represents a "world first" in terms of the number of technologies that will interoperate with each other for the benefits of all stakeholders.

The Nasdaq-listed company says Ghana's central bank wants the West African state's financial services industry to have access to a technological platform that will allow for the sharing of all existing payment instruments. It will also introduce a new biometrically protected smart card designed to deliver affordable financial services to the majority of all Ghanaian citizens.

The solution, to be implemented over the next six months, will facilitate interoperability between all existing automatic teller machines, points-of-sale and teller terminals owned by the individual banks.

There is also a need for local businesses to accept payment tenders, such as MasterCard and Visa credit and debit cards, says Stewart. There is a more pressing need for a payment instrument that can be issued to all Ghanaians, regardless of their financial status or dwelling location.

This instrument needs to offer them a range of financial services and products, such as prepaid utilities, money transfers, loan and insurance management, savings accounts and third-party payments, in such a way that will preserve their integrity, dignity and security.

According to the company, the system has been designed to support future applications such as cross-border debit and credit card transactions with other West African countries, as well as a smart card multi-currency wallet. In addition, it will cater for numerous government applications that require biometric security in conjunction with offline transaction processing.

The system will incorporate a card risk management applet, as well as the ability to provide biometric protection to PIN-based applications as an additional, but independent, verification process.