Banks reject voters, national identification card for transactions

Information gathered by the media indicates many banks are rejecting the new voters and National Identification Card as a form of identification in opening accounts and undertaking transactions.

It is however not the fault of the banks as both the voters and national identification cards have not been validated.

Independent checks at some branches of the commercial banks indicate that the banks do not recognize these ID cards because they cannot validate them from the system called ‘G Vive’.

They however accept the driver’s license, SSNIT ID cards, and passports, but reject outrightly the National Health Insurance Card because they perceive it as fraught with fraud, while the risk exposure is very high.

Nonetheless, the issue is how many people possess a driver’s license, SSNIT ID cards, and Passports.

In as much as banks are doing their best to curb money laundering, THE MEDIA believes the challenge may deny many Ghanaians access to financial services if not addressed immediately.

Again, a cross-section of Ghanaians who frequently use Mobile Money Services for payment and other transactions will be denied access from 1st March 2021.

In this age of financial inclusion, banks will have to be innovative by allowing guarantors to guarantee for potential account holders and those who come to do transactions.

E-Banking Expert, Raymond Appiah-Danquah told reporters “what I will suggest is that the banks should be able to ask a customer to present a guarantor whose ID card can be validated so that you will not deny people of financial services. If it were to be the advanced countries they will have relied on your digital address, but we all know where we are in Ghana at the moment.”

Many will want to see the Bank of Ghana moving quickly to ensure that both the new voters and the national identification card are accepted as a mode of identification for banking transactions.