Forex Bureau’s to competerise operations

THE Ghana Forex Bureau Association (GFBA) has begun preparation to computerise their operations in conformity with modern trends.
This follows a directive by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) to all Forex bureau operators to automate or computerise their operations after 20 years of operations.
The President of GFBA, Dr Kwesi Fosu Gyabaa, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra last Friday, said the automation of their services would ensure efficient transactions with its customers and expressed the hope that by end of the year all the 280 members of the association would be fully computerised.
In line with the directives from the central bank, Dr Gyabaa said the association invited two software engineering companies in Accra to exhibit and introduce user-friendly software and new operating systems recognised by BOG to their members,
The Director of GO Solutions Limited, one of the two computer engineering companies, Dr George Opoku, who introduced one of his company’s software,SalesMate FXB, said the programme was a fully integrated currency trading software package specially designed for forex bureau operators.
He said the programme provided a multi-level security system based on user-assigned responsibility levels which was set up by the system administrator, noting that the responsibility levels defined what could be viewed, entered or queried.
“Only eligible users can log on to operate the system and the programme keeps records of users and records any unusual activity”, he stated.
Some of the features of the programme, according to him, included cash flow analysis, lodgements in banks, recording of foreign currency purchases and stock valuation.
“The programme can also send cash transfers from one bank account to another, prepare cash account balances, provide daily, weekly and monthly sales details and summary” he added.
The Managing Director of Computer Solutions, the other software company, Mr Adolf Agbodza, also introduced one of their products, Easy Bureau, to members of the association.
He said the programme was one of the simplest and effective ways of managing forex bureaux since it entailed simply entering their sales and purchases to receive BOG reports such as foreign currency stock position, return on purchases and sales of foreign currency and profits on transactions.
Mr Agbodza noted that the programme had the facility to consolidate balances and reports for companies with more buries, keep track of individual bureaux and their set of reports, and a set of consolidated reports for all bureaux.
“The programme has a fully secured networked environment with passwords, authorised access to selected screens, and an auto backup to secure your data” he told members of the association.