THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has, with immediate effect, reduced bank charges on electronic transactions that will see electronic fund transfers attracting charges of between $0,33 to a maximum of $2,10 in an ambitious drive to promote plastic money transactions.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
According to a statement released yesterday, RBZ governor John Mangudya said real time gross settlement transactions would now attract a maximum fee of $5.
Point-of-sale (POS) transactions up to $10 will now attract a charge of $0,10, while those above that threshold will attract a fee of $0,45.
POS own bank customer will have a maximum charge of $0,20, while POS issuer charges have been removed.
Mangudya said automated teller machine withdrawals would attract a maximum fee of $2,50 and merchant service commission was to attract a fee which ranges from zero to a maximum of 1% for local transactions.
Monthly administration or service fee would now range between 0 to a maximum of $5 for individuals, and the new charges are inclusive of the $0,05 tax.
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Mangudya said the central bank had agreed with the Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe and payment systems providers to reduce charges on electronic transactions in order to promote and encourage usage of electronic banking services.
“It is envisaged that the reduction in transactional fees will go a long way in promoting the use of plastic money, which is essential to move the economy towards a cashless society and complement the current financial inclusion efforts,” he said.
The use of plastic money was one of government’s solutions to address the current cash shortages in the country by decongesting the banking halls.
The cash shortages have seen banks putting daily caps of $100 on withdrawals.
The new bank charges came after Mangudya told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance and Economic Development on Monday that RBZ and banks had agreed to revise the fees and in the process removed all the impediments for people to use plastic money.
“The whole idea is to take away people from the banking hall using plastic money. We did a research and noticed that RTGS [Real Time Gross Settlement] charges were high ranging between $5 to 25 per transaction,” he said.
Mangudya told legislators that it was not making sense for someone to be charged $2 or $3 for withdrawing $100, but for withdrawing $700 being charged $20 saying it meant that people could just go and queue.
“So for both charges we are coming up with a statement showing that these are now the fees and will champion the plastic money and bank transfers,” he said.
The central bank boss told legislators that it was imperative for all businesses to have POS machines that allow use of plastic money.
“Plastic money works on satellite systems like base stations for phones. We encourage those in mobile banking and banks to use the same lines so that there is availability of networks even in rural areas.”
