The central bank in Africa’s red metal hotspot increased limits on digital platforms to boost the use of electronic money. This was communicated to commercial banks in a memo on 19 March from the Deputy Governors Operations office backed by Section 43 of the National Payments Systems Act of 2007 and section 17 of the National Payment Systems Directive on use of Electronic Money issuance of 2018. The governor further cautioned mobile money and commercial banks to tighten risk management frameworks to curb risks associated with money laundering as consequence of the directive. Adherence to robust Know Your Customer (KYC) and compliance with Anti Money Laundering (AML) Laws were sternly cited.
Limits for individual clients of various tiers doubled to quintupled allows for transfers of K20,000 to K100,000 while small scale farmers and small enterprises quadrupled to a million Kwacha. Agents and corporate limits will be uncapped from pervious K2million.
Zambia’s digitisation drive in the financial sector is fast evolving fast propelled by the nations appetite for financial inclusion. This has seen the integration of banks with Mobile Network Operators. Key players in the space include Absa, Stanbic, Zanaco bank who have integrated with MTN, Airtel and Zamtel to facilitate seamless transactability.
The Kwacha Arbitrageur