NDAMU SANDU
Mastercard president and chief executive officer Ajaypal Singh Banga will visit Zimbabwe in October as the global leader in payment solutions eyes a 10-year partnership with Zimswitch set to modernise local and international payments infrastructure.
Discussions on the partnership are ongoing and something concrete would happen in the fourth quarter of the year, Zimswitch spokesperson Zabron Chilakalaka told Business Times.
He said by the time Banga visits Zimbabwe “we should have covered significant ground in terms of discussions”.
Business Times understands a team from Mastercard will visit Zimbabwe on a courtesy call on Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya.
Under the proposed partnership, Mastercard Payments Gateway services will support small businesses as well as private and public sectors. The platform will process Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Union Pay, Dinners and Japan Credit Bureau cards providing visitors to Zimbabwe with the ability to book and pay for their stay online.
Mark Elliot, Division President Mastercard Southern Africa said Zimswitch and all local banks would migrate to “a more secure EMV platform using Mastercard contactless debit cards”.
“This marks a significant step towards greater consistency, security and speed for processing everyday payments while laying the groundwork for future innovation,” Elliot said.
Mangudya said Mastercard’s commitment “demonstrates confidence in our market”.
“Zimbabwe has witnessed a significant shift in growth of electronic payments, so to secure the payment infrastructure, Zimswitch will be providing a national solution to deter criminals and card fraud,” Mangudya said.
Mastercard will invest in the deployment of infrastructure with solutions and relevant products such as Mastercard Quick Response Code to all banks to eliminate the expensive use and storage of cash.
Monetary authorities say the partnership will modernise infrastructure given that Mastercard is a top company in the payment space.
It is expected that Mastercard will open a local office in the next phase—a vote of confidence in the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra.
Mastercard operates one of the world’s fastest payment processing connecting consumers, financial institutions and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories.
Zimswitch is an electronic funds transfer switch for Zimbabwe, processing domestic card-based, mobile and internet driven transactions among member financial institutions online and in real time.
