The National e-Payment System (e-ZWICH): A Comparative Study of Three Regions in Ghana.

Abstract

As the first biometric payment system in Africa, the e-ZWICH payment system was meant to facilitate trade and simplify payments, which will then drive economic growth and development. This novel payment system has been bedeviled with a lot of challenges. Various studies have been conducted into challenges of e-ZWICH payment systems in Commercial Banks with little or no special attention to small and medium scale enterprise. This study was therefore initiated to investigate challenges of e-ZWICH payment system on small and medium scale enterprises and find out if significant differences existed on perceived challenges of e-ZWICH payment system according to customers’ geographical zones. This study will lead to an improvement in the use of e-payments systems by small and medium scale enterprises. The study adopted the descriptive survey method with 100 participants from each of the three geographical zones. The data was analyzed into frequencies, percentages and ANOVA was used to test for differences in perceived challenges according to geographical zones. The study concluded that differences actually existed on perceived challenges according to customers geographical zones. The study recommends that the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement system (GHIPSS) should organize sensitization workshops to create awareness to owners of small and medium scale enterprises and their customers on the usefulness and benefits of using point of sale device to make payments. It is also recommended that GHIPSS must take into consideration customers’ geographical location in designing policy reforms.