Zambia’s monetary head Dr. Denny Kalyalya tipped banks to strive to protect digital product consumers from the emergence of cyber risks. Kalyalya said this at the commencement of the financial literacy week in the capital.
“With regard to Government related services, the use of digital platforms is expected to enhance revenue collection and contribute positively to the national Treasury. This notwithstanding, the rise in the use of Digital Financial Services has also introduced significant risks for individuals as well as for financial service providers. To address these risks, there is greater need to enhance cyber security and raise awareness about fraud to secure higher uptake and protect the consumers of digital financial services,” Dr. Denny Kalyalya said.
The copper producer has seen a sharp utilization of digital channels especially in the COVID19 pandemic period following the central banks increased limits for electronic money usage. The Zambian financial landscape has seen increased innovation, integrations with mobile network operators and a widened competitive financial surface area. This has nonetheless scaled cyber risks through a plethora of fraudulent assaults such as sim-swap fraud, identity related thefts, skimming and card fraud types.
The BOZ head further acknowledged that technology and innovation in the financial sector has played a major role in raising the level of financial inclusion in the country over the last five years.
According to the FinScope 2020 Survey, while overall financial inclusion increased to 69.4%, from 59.3% in 2015, formal financial inclusion rose significantly to 61.3% from 38.2%.This was largely due to the uptake of mobile money, which went up exponentially by 58.4% from 14.0%.
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