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‘Craft legal framework for mobile banking providers’

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BANKERS’ Association of Zimbabwe president George Guvamatanga has appealed to Parliament to introduce a legal framework to guide mobile banking providers to protect depositors.

BANKERS’ Association of Zimbabwe president George Guvamatanga has appealed to Parliament to introduce a legal framework to guide mobile banking providers to protect depositors.

SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER

“What is of concern with the emergence of mobile money (banking on telephones) is that it is operating without any legal framework and anyone who decides to launch their product can just do so,” Guvamatanga said while addressing parliamentarians attending a ZimAsset workshop in Harare on Thursday.

“We do not have laws for deposit protection and we have seen mobile networks coming up with banking products without a proper legal framework. What we are simply telling lawmakers is to ensure that the people they represent are protected by the law and as we speak there is no law.”

Early this month, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) barred mobile money agents from entering into exclusive agreements with individual mobile cash payment system operators, saying the move was meant to curb monopolies in the sector.

This was after Telecel Zimbabwe had lodged a complaint with the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe accusing its competitor Econet Wireless Zimbabwe of refusing to share agents’ services.

In the RBZ statement, national payments system senior executive James Mutepfa said exclusive agent agreements had adverse effects on competition and could be detrimental to the smooth operation of cash payment systems in the country.

Guvamatanga also added that there is need to adopt a national corporate governance framework and ensure the Legislature had more authority over individual Cabinet ministers. “The legal framework should ensure the country’s laws protect property rights, and other challenges with our laws are that there is too much power endowed on an individual minister, rather than that power given to Parliament.

“Why should too much discretion be given on an individual when we have strong institutions like the National Assembly, Senate and Cabinet?”