NIA encourages financial institutions to prioritise Ghana Card identification

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has encouraged financial institutions to prioritize user verification using the Ghana Card for all transactions.

Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, the Executive Secretary of the NIA, made the call during the National Identity Day, aimed at raising awareness about the significance of legal identity, aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 16.9.

Professor Attafuah said implementing this measure will play a pivotal role in curbing the rising incidents of fraud within the sector.

“We have unbounded all the 25 universal banks and 125 rural banks, all the telcos. All these institutions are properly positioned to verify identification, verification is the confirmation that the right thing has been done.

“That is why the banks must verify. The banks failed to verify the identities, simply make a photocopy of the person’s ID Card, they lost 162 million through fraud, that wouldn’t have happened if the banks verified,” the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority stated.

The NIA on Monday, September 4, 2023, began Phase II of registration of Ghana Cards for new applicants.

This follows the NIA’s truncation of the first phase of the registration, which was purposely for public sector workers on the government payroll.

The NIA blamed the truncation of the first phase of the registration on low turnout by the public sector workers.

The NIA in a statement said that phase I was based on the figures provided by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, estimating 250,000 to 260,000 Public Sector Workers, without the cards.