Companies urged to use Automated Clearing House to pay shareholders

Companies are being encouraged to pay their shareholders using the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Direct Credit.

This will ensure that shareholders receive their dividends directly into their bank accounts and this would be at a least cost to the company.

While some companies pay directly into the bank account of their shareholders others continue to use the postal system with some cheques finding their way to wrong postal boxes.

An even more common practice, is that for the many shareholders who hold very few shares and therefore get very little amount of money as dividend, there is hardly any motivation to cash their dividend cheques.

Other times, the value of the dividend is less than the hustle one goes through just to receive the money, when it is not paid into bank accounts.

Also disputes over whether dividends have been paid and received remains a major debacle due to weak tracking system with the post.

However as the payment system in the country gets more sophisticated, companies can cut off all these inconveniences to shareholders by paying their dividends through ACH Direct Credit.

Experts say payment through ACH will directly credit the bank account of the shareholder regardless of the amount involved and where they are located in the country.

Also the ACH Direct Credit provides an audit trail that would resolve any disputes over payment.

As companies pay interim dividends before the year ends, officials of the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) is urging them to ride on the back of technology and provide convenience to their shareholders.

GhIPSS, together with the banks, has embarked on public education on ACH and officials express the hope that virtually all companies would resort to ACH by the time they pay their full dividend, next year.

Source: GNA