The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) an agency of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has reversed it decision issued on June 4th. The directive issued was to limit the number of internal bank transfers to 2 a day.
The turn around came after Members of The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe made an appeal to the Reserve Bank. Financial Analyst Happi Zengeni tweeted:
The Financial Intelligence Unit has revoked a directive issued to banks limiting internal transfer amounts following representations made by the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe. On June 4, the FIU directed all banks to limit internal transfers to just two per day.
@happ_zenge
The acting Director-General of the FIU Oliver, had on the 4th of June ordered banks to limit their transfers stating:
Each bank customer shall make no more than two transactions per day by way of internal transfer regardless of the values involved. There is no restriction on RTGS transfers but banks should exercise necessary due diligence.
This measure was implemented to slow down the slow down the parallel market transactions that were being done through internal transfers.
“We have noted a trend where entities are using their bank accounts to buy foreign currency, using a network of “runners”, some of whom have been advertising their services on social media. These illicit transactions manifest in the form of daily multiple payments from one account to beneficiaries who hold accounts in the same bank.”
Oliver Chaperesa, FIU Acting Director General
With the representations made by the Bankers Association yet to be released. My guess is the sheer amount of requests that were lodged to banks daily was part of the appeal. This process, I imagine, became cumbersome for financial institutions and inconvenient for customers. They would have also seen a decrease in revenue generated from internal transfers. The latter being the more likely reason.
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