Most Zimbabweans will wake up jobless tomorrow as the Reserve Bank Of Zimbabwe bans the use of mobile transfers agents since “they are used for illegal foreign exchange transactions”.
According to the midterm monetary policy from the RBZ, Mobile money operators shall, with immediate effect, close all multiple wallets, and allow just one wallet per individual.
“Agents’ mobile money wallets are therefore abolished, with immediate effect. Agents currently holding value in suspended and frozen wallets shall be allowed to liquidate the funds to their bank accounts, upon the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) having satisfied itself of the legitimacy of the source of funds.”
All mobile money platforms such as Ecocash, One money, Telecash and My cash are affected.
Only retailers and other service providers will be permitted to continue operating merchant wallets to allow the public to pay for goods and services.
“Merchants shall not be allowed to make payments from their wallets. E-value held in merchant wallets shall be liquidated to the merchant’s bank account. In this regard, mobile money operators shall have systems in place to ensure automatic liquidations from the merchant wallets to the merchant bank accounts.”
Meanwhile, payment of salaries and wages will only be conducted through banking channels.
“Going forward, bulk payment wallets will be approved by regulatory authorities for limited use, primarily for low value transactions and humanitarian funds disbursements to vulnerable members of society. Any other bulk payment transactions, such as payment of salaries and wages, should be processed through normal banking channels.”
