Act grows mobile banking

MOBILE

By Edith Mwale, Lusaka, Zambia

The Bank of Zambia has revealed that the enactment of the 2007 National Payments Systems Act has helped increase access to mobile banking services in the country.

The bank said Zambia has seen rapid growing in the mobile banking services because only about 33% of the country’s population has access to banking service while the rest of the population remains unbanked. Zambia has a population of slightly above 13 million, according to a recent population census.

Bank of Zambia deputy governor of administration Tukiya Kankasa Mabula said:  “The mobile payment industry has helped accelerate the provision of banking services especially in rural and remote areas.”

Kankasa was speaking at the 4^th mobile banking conference held in Lusaka last week sponsored by Celpay Zambia, a mobile banking solution service provider.

And Celpay International Group chief executive officer Lazarus Muchenje said mobile banking has changed the way banking services are deployed especially in developing countries.

Muchenje said mobile banking has grown rapidly over the last decade with over 600 mobile payment platforms developed across the world.

He revealed than only 10% of such platform have been successful especially in developing countries.

Muchenje said Zambia should give itself a big applause for pioneering mobile banking when the first transaction was conducted successfully on April 24, 2002 at the Celpay office in Lusaka.

He said K12.5 trillion worth of transactions have occurred via the Celpay platform over the last 10 years but expressed confidence that another K6 trillion will be transacted over the next six months.