NO DISTURBANCES IN BANK’S CROSS-BORDER PAYMENTS

MANZINI – EswatiniBank has assured its customers that there will be no disturbances in the processing of cross-border payments, following changes announced by the banking industry.

The bank confirmed that it has been using the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Real Time Gross Settlement to process payments to the Common Monetary Area (CMA). The bank’s cross-border payments will still be routed through the same platform. The changes have no impact on our processing of cross-border payments.

• Pricing remains the same; there are no additional charges.
• All transactions are processed on the same day.

Meanwhile, the South African banks will stop processing electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments and collections as of Monday, September 9, 2024. The CMA links South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini into a monetary union where a single monetary policy prevails. All countries inside the Common Monetary Area have the right to a national currency. However, these currencies are only legal tender in their own countries. The South African Rand, the union’s single currency, is legal tender throughout the countries that form part of the CMA. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) explained that the change will affect low-value EFTs and debit and credit payments.

It highlighted that these transactions will be treated as cross-border transactions and subject to greater due diligence requirements. “Our payment system and processes must be regularised to enhance compliance with international standards,” SARB said. Doing so will prevent criminals from easily accessing EFT payments to launder funds and ensure that this misuse can be identified more effectively when it occurs.

Efforts

This step also forms part of South Africa’s efforts to address several recommendations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The SARB said it would strengthen South Africa’s anti-money laundering, counter the financing of terrorism, and combat the proliferation financing regime. “Regularising these low-value retail payments will help us to achieve our goal of exiting the FATF graylist by January 2025,” it said. Banks operating in the CMA have elected to process these low-value retail payments using the regional payment infrastructure. This infrastructure includes the Southern African Development Community real-time gross settlement (SADC-RTGS) system, which is primarily used for high-value payments.

The reserve bank highlighted that the changes will also include a new approach to treating debit orders. From September 30, 2024, financial institutions can no longer debit account holders in other CMA countries as domestic customers or policyholders. “Debit orders collected from customers’ accounts within the CMA countries must be initiated from an account domiciled in the respective CMA country,” it said. These measures will protect customers as domestic central banks and conduct authorities will have in-country recourse against unscrupulous debit order practices.

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