Speaking at the ceremony, the President for the Serra Leone Association of Commercial Banks who also happens to be the Managing Director/ CEO of the First International Bank, Madam Hassiatu G. Jalloh Agbageb, said this is a new innovation aimed at promoting banking system in the country.

 She added that with the establishment of a well functional national switch project will strengthen the delivery of financial services by creating a single, integrated and efferent platform for the settlement of interbank electronic payments derived from different channels in the country. She pointed out that the E-commerce activities will be safer, faster, and user-friendly through the electronic settlement of all financial transactions.

She also said that the national switch will provide the financial sector a unique opportunity to link the country’s involved in the following types of transactions: ATM Transactions POS transactions, M-Banking transactions, E-Banking transactions, Visa and MasterCard Gateway, over-the-counter transactions to a single network in Sierra Leone.

She noted that the Ebola outbreak has taught them a lot in terms of paying, as people who were supposed to pay during that time was very difficult, adding that the switch banking system will enhance quality banking in the country.

She said the payment systems defined is a key factor in the switch project as it consists of a set of instruments banking procedures and typically interbank fund transfer systems that ensure the caution of money.

She maintained that this project will have far reaching prospects in the industry and the economy in general, and  also said that they are assuring as critical stakeholders that they are obligated to its take –off and shall commit time and realistic resources to its realization in the not too distant future in the country.