The stand-off between Paynet and banks is quite confusing for most people because up until banks were cut-off and some no longer had access to their salaries and pensions, most didn’t even know about the existence of a Paynet.
One of the most pressing questions you probably have (and I did too) was, what exactly does this stand-off affect. I reached out to a number of people working in the banking sector and the conversations we had left me with better understanding of this crisis.
The key question I had was, how does this affect banks and do they have any alternatives? One of the sources did a pretty good job explaining in layman’s terms and informed me that Paynet was used to make bulk payments (mostly salaries). This means I can create a file with all account numbers and amounts for my employees for each bank and it would process the deposits. Without Paynet, bulk payments have to be processed alternatively.
So what are the alternatives? Well, that’s not so simple either. I got an explanation that Paynet’s greatest advantage was that it was universal and it had a standard all banks recognised. What this means is that right now there is no alternative, just workarounds and as you guess these are probably not as ideal as Paynet. Banks do have bulk payment or batching solutions but there isn’t a universal alternative.
CABS sent an email to their customers addressing the issue. In that email, RTGS transfers of CABS to other banks and internal transfers would continue to be made through the internet banking channel. Internet banking would also make bulk crediting possible.
What became a bit confusing in that email was the bit that said Bulk internal transfers and debit orders would only work using their own DirectInject technology. According to CABS website Direct Inject works as follows:
DirectInject allows for the processing of bulk payments into CABS accounts, Textacash and co-branded closed card accounts with enhanced security and efficiency. Once the DirectInject application is loaded on your computer, payment files can be prepared and must be saved in *.csv format.
Notification will be sent out to you in the event that a file has failed to run.
CABS website
DirectInject seems to be a CABS specific service which speaks to the universality offered by Paynet. Standard Chartered is also said to be urging their clients to move to their Straight2Bank platform and whilst that offers payroll services the main issue is still simply the fact that universality offered by Paynet is still a far cry from being achieved.
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No bank was “banned”. They were suspended for the refusal to pay Payserv’s invoice acting as a cartel. Paynet did not ban the banks, Payserv Africa (Mauritius) suspended their accounts pending receipt of US$475,000 which banks rang up in transactions despite knowing that they will receive an invoice in US dollars.
All banks, including Standard Chartered have asked their clients to email unencrypted spreadsheets (SSB is delivering flash drives with couriers). They are unabashedly asked customers to use a Paynet Template without even changing the file name from Paynet. The systems banks are offering such as S2B or Direct Inject are one bank solutions and do not allow interbank transfers and settlement. The use of a Paynet template in no way indicates endorsement of the methods being used and we caution the public that financial transactions conducted by email and physical delivery of flash drives are inherently insecure, lack privacy, and are unencrypted.
Finally you don’t mention the best “workaround” of all: Don’t workaround – stay with Paynet’s secure, encrypted, privacy protected platform and send salaries too Ecocash wallets in minutes. Perhaps to seem less biased TechZim could have reached out to Cambria’s CEO, Samir Shasha or read Cambria’s news release. Cambria has invested in and owns Payserv Africa which owns and operates Paynet Zimbabwe’s technology.
Hey Samir, if there article came across as bias apologies.
That wasn’t really the intention. We are not taking any side and just trying to cover (as prior articles on this issue can prove) and make our audience better understand. We are not among those who believe “Cambria/Paynet” is holding the nation at ransom.
Our goal is to make people understand what it is that’s going on and I believe that in this article I did actually mention that “the main issue is still simply the fact that universality offered by Paynet is still a far cry from being achieved.”
I also didn’t at any point in the article say that banks were “banned” but instead wrote that banks were “cut-off”.
No bank was “banned”. They were suspended for the refusal to pay Payserv’s invoice acting as a cartel. Paynet did not ban the banks, Payserv Africa (Mauritius) suspended their accounts pending receipt of US$475,000 which banks rang up in transactions despite knowing that they will receive an invoice in US dollars.
All banks, including Standard Chartered have asked their clients to email unencrypted spreadsheets (SSB is delivering flash drives with couriers). Banks are unabashedly asking customers to use a Paynet Template without even changing the file name. Systems such as S2B or Direct Inject are same bank solutions and do not allow interbank transfers and settlement. The use of a Paynet template in no way indicates Paynet’s endorsement of the methods being used. Paynet cautions the public that financial transactions conducted by email and physical delivery of flash drives are inherently insecure, lack privacy, and are unencrypted.
Finally you don’t mention the best “workaround” of all: Don’t workaround! Stay with Paynet’s secure, encrypted, privacy protected platform and send salaries to Ecocash wallets in minutes. To seem unbiased TechZim could have reached out to Cambria’s CEO, Samir Shasha or read Cambria’s news release. Cambria has invested in and owns Payserv Africa which owns and operates Paynet Zimbabwe’s technology.