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Business Reporter
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is considering coaxing banks into sharing platforms that facilitate the ease of using debit cards or plastic money through point of sale devices.
Costs associated with ZimSwitch-enabled platforms, which can charge up to US$5 per transaction, are largely considered to be a major put-off for potential users. Also, POS terminals are often offline.
RBZ Deputy Governor Dr Charity Dhliwayo told The Sunday Mail Business there were plans to deploy more POS terminals around the country to promote use of plastic money.
It is estimated that more than 80 percent of transactions conducted in Zimbabwe are in cash.
However, cash shortages have led to an active push for alternative methods of transacting.
“What we are doing is to engage the providers (of plastic money facilities) so that there is sharing of infrastructure; it is very important because what usually happens is that every provider like banks and so forth, they would like to have their own infrastructure.
“But if they were to share, so that the card can actually be swiped on any machine, it would reduce costs. We are working very hard to make sure that there is sharing of infrastructure,” said Dr Dhliwayo.
Zimbabwe has over 500 ZimSwitch-enabled ATMs and more than 7 000 POS terminals.
The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe recently indicated that it was exploring opportunities for rolling out more terminals, especially for areas that handle large volume transactions.
Most Government departments do not have POS terminals.
The RBZ’s major motivation in its engagement with BAZ is to reduce transaction costs.
Banks are increasingly using low transaction costs and affordable service charges as a drawcard for consumers.
The recently launched National Building Society, wholly-owned by the National Social Security Authority, will not have service charges for senior citizens. Subscription accounts, similar to savings accounts, will not attract charges.
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