Categories: Stories

Ecocash performance hit by 7 regulatory directives over past six months

The performance of Zimbabwe’s largest mobile money platform, Ecocash, has severely been impacted on by seven regulatory directives that have been issued during the past six months, its parent company Cassava Smartech said in trading update.

Its share on the national payments system, for example, fell from 30 to 19 percent by value.

The company said the directives that impacted on Ecocash are:

  1. 21st April 2020 – Reduction in daily, monthly and transactional limits,
  2. 4th May 2020 – Suspension of Agents with transactions above ZW$100,000 and requirement for their re-registration,
  3. 4th June 2020 – Suspension of Agent to Agent transactions,
  4. 26th June 2020 – Directive to integrate to Zimswitch, in line with SI 80, by 30 September 2020,
  5. 27th June 2020 – Suspension of some Ecocash User Categories and Functions,
  6. 25th August 2020 – Revision of mobile money limits and permissible transactions,
  7. 25th August 2020 – Ban of use of multiple wallets by individuals effective 8 September 2020.

The company said it continues to comply with all the regulatory directives as they are issued.

The government has cracked down on Ecocash after discovering that it was creating “phantom money” and fuelling the black market.

The crackdown started in April after authorities discovered that the value of Ecocash transactions in February alone was three times that of all 13 commercial banks in the country.

The crackdown on Ecocash has also resulted in the delay in the publishing of the parent company’s annual report for the financial year ending February 2020.

(114 VIEWS)

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

Recent Posts

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe expects more foreign currency sellers to join the interbank market

The gazetting into law of the payment of quarterly taxes on a 50-50 basis in…

December 4, 2024

Zimbabwe 2025 citizens’ budget

Zimbabwe has today unveiled a ZiG276.4 billion budget for 2025 during which it expects the…

November 28, 2024

To go or not to go- Mnangagwa in a quandary

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has repeatedly stated that he is not going to contest a…

November 25, 2024

ZiG loses steam, falls against US dollar for five consecutive days

The Zimbabwe Gold fell against the United States dollar for five consecutive days from Monday…

November 22, 2024

Indian think tank says Starlink is a wolf in sheep’s clothing

An Indian think tank has described Starlink, a satellite internet service provider which recently entered…

November 18, 2024

ZiG firms against US dollar for 10 days running but people still do not have confidence in the currency

Zimbabwe’s new currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), firmed against the United States dollars for 10…

November 16, 2024