The Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, has reiterated the need for Ghanaian companies to strike partnerships and alliances with the global community in order to further open the Ghanaian economy up for growth.
Launching the Ghana Commercial Bank Limited (GCB) MasterCard in Accra, Dr Akoto Osei said Ghana stands to benefit most from advanced technology, bigger markets, capital and best practices which would in turn ensure the rapid growth of Ghanaian businesses.
MasterCard International, the partners of GCB serves more than 25,000 member financial institutions world-wide and provides services in more than 210 countries and territories. Cards issued by MasterCard are accepted at more than 23 million locations around the globe.
GCB acquired principal status of MasterCard in 2007 to issue and acquire MasterCard branded cards in Ghana. The Bank will sponsor affiliate members and other institutions to use the MasterCard brand and will be fully responsible for all the transactions of the affiliate. GCB MasterCards can be used in over 1.8 million ATMs and 7.5 million Point of Sale terminals around the globe.
The Managing Director of GCB, Mr Lawrence Adu-Mante, said that over the next 12 months, GCB would outdoor point of sale terminals which accept MasterCard products, GCB family of MasterCard credit cards, Visa ATM acquiring, which enable GCB ReadyCash ATMs to accept Visa branded cards in addition to MasterCards and GCB Visa Debit and Credit cards.
The Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawiah III, described GCB as a necessary bank that all Ghanaians should be attached to.
He said the cost of printing money is exorbitant and that the introduction of electronic banking and products are necessary.