SWIPES HIT E2BN MARK IN ONE YEAR

MBABANE – The global trend of using ‘plastic’ money, which has received rave reviews for being the safest mode of transacting as opposed to carrying hard cash, is fast gaining momentum in the Swazi market.

This is evident from the fact that Central Bank of Swaziland (CBS) has reported that the number of Point of Sale (POS) transactions and equivalent value increased from 1.9 million transactions worth E1.6 billion in December 2015 to 2.6 million transactions worth E2.0 billion in December 2016. 

Embraced

CBS has pointed out that uptake in usage of cards for payment - including debit, credit and charge cards - had grown significantly, as users now embraced initiatives by the bank and the Swaziland Bankers Association (SBA) to adopt so-called ‘plastic’ money as well as the growing acceptance of cards as a safe and convenient mode of payment.

“Increased usage of cards for payment has also raised risk profiles, prompting the bank and SBA to devise mitigation measures, including the adoption of Maestro, MasterCard and Visa credit cards, among others, that have global security standards,” CBS explained.
It was also mentioned that card usage for payments grew strongly in terms of automated teller machines (ATMs) cards, credit and debit cards, and point of sale (POS) terminals from December 2015 to December 2016.

Transactions

The number of ATM transactions and equivalent value increased from 12.2 million transactions worth E13.0 billion in December 2015 to 27.4 million transactions worth E14.9 billion in December 2016.

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