Mozambique: Zandamela meets with banks – Carta

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Mozambique: Zandamela meets with banks – Carta

5:49 CAT | 17 May 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: O País]

The Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, will meet the managers of commercial banks operating in Mozambique in Maputo this Friday.

‘Carta’ has received a communication about the event, but it does not say what will be addressed. However, solutions to the frequent failures in the payment system – the SIMO interbank network – is the most likely topic. The call for the meeting comes after controversy over flaws in the new payment system peaked.

Provided by the US company Euronet, the Single National Electronic Payments Network, managed by the Sociedade Interbancária de Moçambique (SIMO), has been presenting several problems, which, in extreme cases, result in bank account holders losing sums of money.

There are cases where, during an ATM transaction, money is debited from an account but the user does not receive it. In transactions via POS (point-of-sale), not entering a PIN due to the new ‘contactless’ technology has also created insecurity among users, who have not received an explanation of how the new cards work.

According to the CTA, the new SIMO Rede system has, since its introduction, caused constraints in payments and transactions that are reflected in problems in ATM and POS functioning in Mozambique and in the payment of bills abroad.

The CTA also notes that making payments on these days entails very high transaction costs, such as the cost and time spent going to bank branches in person, waiting time and other non-quantifiable costs such as the breakdown of trust between customers and service providers, extra remuneration and so on. In addition to associated security aspects, this affects the credibility of the national financial system and undermines financial inclusion efforts.

Both citizens and businesspeople blame the central bank (Bank of Mozambique) for the current problems, but Governor Zandamela blames the commercial banks, which he says were slow to migrate to the new system.

“The institutions did not adjust in time, and it is only recently that they are embracing this new technological challenge and adopting the new system. That is the problem,” Zandamela said in March, after the second bi-monthly meeting of the bank’s Policy Committee Monetary.

After today’s meeting, it will be interesting to know from the central bank and from commercial banks the solutions to solve the various problems regarding the new system, whether they will opt for temporary management of the system in the previous ways, as the CTA suggested, while transitioning to network unification effectively and efficiently.

By Evaristo Chilingue

Source: Carta de Moçambique